Electromigration-induced transgranular failure mechanisms in single-crystal aluminum interconnects

Passivated and unpassivated Al single-crystal lines with (110), (133), and (111) planes parallel to the substrate have been fabricated and electromigration tests have been performed to study transgranular failure mechanisms. Both erosion voids and slitlike voids with {111} facets were observed in single-crystal lines. The slitlike voids lie along the in-plane direction, which leads to minimum-surface-area voids among the crystallographically possible directions for the {111}-faceted voids. Voids that nucleate in the lines appear to be mobile and can move toward the cathode end and sometimes accumulate in the cathode pad. (110)-textured lines fail due to erosion voids, slitlike voids, and pad voids, with roughly equal probability. However, (111)- and (133)-textured lines failed predominantly due to pad voids. In both passivated and unpassivated single-crystal lines, the median time to failure, t50, is texture dependent, with t50(111)>t50(133)>t50(110), and with t50(111)⩾10×t50(110). The activation energy f...

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