Microstructure Measurement Techniques for Studying Electromigration in ULSI Interconnects

abstract

Electromigration reliability remains a major threat to microelectronic circuits. Microstructure of a thin film conductor used in integrated circuit affects the electromigration lifetime significantly. A wealth of knowledge is acquired on thin film microstructure and electromigration in metallic interconnects from relevant studies in past few decades. However, it is noticed that the various techniques to measure microstructure-related attributes of thin film metallization are not presented in the context of electromigration, since these measurement techniques have their own importance. On the other hand, aggressive scaling of interconnect line-width down to nano regime, poses new challenges to microstructure characterization techniques. This article connects these two aspects of electromigration study, e.g., the characterization of microstructure and measurement techniques for the influential microstructural attributes especially for Cu-based interconnects. The microstructure-related parameters, attributes, and their impacts on electromigration lifetime are discussed. The sample preparation and various techniques to measure attributes of microstructure are presented in detail. This article describes the current state-of-the-art for the advancement of studying microstructure dependent electromigration reliability.

Keywords:

• Copper interconnects
• electromigration
• microstructure attributes
• reliability
• review

Funding

The second author would like to thank Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India for conducting this work under DST Inspire Fellowship Scheme (reference number: IF1400972).