Effect of dielectric materials on stress-induced damage modes in damascene Cu lines

The stress of damascene Cu integrated with silicon dioxide (SiO2) and a low-k material was analyzed by x-ray diffraction, and that of the via-line structure was evaluated using finite element analysis. In both cases, the hydrostatic stress of the Cu line embedded in SiO2 was greater than that of the Cu line with low-k dielectric, whereas the opposite was true for the von Mises stress. In particular, the von Mises stress in the via embedded in the low-k dielectric was large. It was also shown that the yield strength of the via embedded in the low-k material is severely reduced compared with that of the via embedded in SiO2. Therefore, the deformation of the via, due to high von Mises stress and low yield strength, is expected to be the important failure mode in the interconnects made with low-k dielectrics which have higher coefficient of thermal expansion and lower elastic modulus.