Electromigration and low-frequency resistance fluctuations in aluminum thin-film interconnections

Low-frequency noise spectra originating from resistance fluctuations in Al films during electromigration were measured in the absolute temperature and current density intervals<tex>327 \leq T \leq 396</tex>K and<tex>1.34 \times 10^{6} \leq j \leq 2.22 \times 10^{6}</tex>A/cm<sup>2</sup>. The values of S<inf>R</inf>, the resistance power spectral density, at 20 × 10<sup>-3</sup>Hz allowed the construction of an Arrhenius plot from which a grain-boundary activation energy value of about 0.6 eV was deduced. This value lies in the range of values found by other authors using different techniques. A first attempt to model the observed dependence of S<inf>R</inf>on<tex>j</tex>and<tex>T</tex>is also described.

[1]  J. Philibert,et al.  La Diffusion dans les solides , 1966 .

[2]  H. B. Huntington,et al.  Current-induced marker motion in gold wires☆ , 1961 .

[3]  P.Terreni Pterreni,et al.  Minimization of low frequency noise sources in electronic measurements , 1986 .

[4]  Robert Rosenberg,et al.  RESISTANCE MONITORING AND EFFECTS OF NONADHESION DURING ELECTROMIGRATION IN ALUMINUM FILMS , 1968 .

[5]  Robert Rosenberg,et al.  Void Formation and Growth During Electromigration in Thin Films , 1971 .

[6]  I. Ames,et al.  Reduction of electromigration in aluminum films by copper doping , 1970 .

[7]  J. Black.  Electromigration failure modes in aluminum metallization for semiconductor devices , 1969 .

[8]  T. P. Djeu,et al.  Electromigration and 1/f Noise of Aluminum Thin Films , 1985, 23rd International Reliability Physics Symposium.

[9]  P. Mazzetti,et al.  Thermal-Equilibrium Properties of Vacancies in Metals through Current-Noise Measurements , 1976 .

[10]  B. Neri,et al.  Electromigration detection by means of low-frequency noise measurements in thin-film interconnections , 1985, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[11]  R. Rosenberg,et al.  Electromigration in Thin Films , 1973 .

[12]  J. L. Vossen,et al.  Screening of metal film defects by current noise measurements , 1973 .

[13]  H.-U. Schreiber,et al.  Activation energies for the different electromigration mechanisms in aluminum , 1981 .

[14]  J. Black,et al.  Electromigration—A brief survey and some recent results , 1969 .