Effect of Cu Migration in a Field Induced Dielectric Failure

For the study of dielectric failures by Cu migration, TDDB (time dependent dielectric breakdown) and 1-D FDM simulation was carried out. We tested TDDB using a simple MIS structure with no barrier Cu electrode. From our TDDB results, the TTF’s in the acceleration condition and the characteristic parameter of TDDB were obtained. In the simulation parts, 1-D FDM simulation was accomplished considering space charge effect due to Cu ions. The objective of TDDB is to predict of TTF (time to failure) in the service condition form the results of an accelerating condition. The characteristic of TTF’s follows E model in the accelerating condition, in the service condition, the deviation from E model was observed. This different characteristic of TTF can be explained by the mechanism of Cu migration enhanced by an applied E field. Our simulation and TDDB results reveal that the deviation from E model does not mean the change of failure mechanism, but it shows the characteristics of Cu migration.