Numerical Simulation on Intergranular Microcracks in Interconnect Lines Due to Surface Diffusion Induced by Stress-,Electro-and Thermo-migration

Based on the weak formulation for combined surface diffusion and evaporation-condensation,a governing equation of the finite element is derived for simulating the evolution of intergranular microcracks in copper interconnects induced simultaneously by stressmigration,electromigration and thermomigration.Unlike previously published works,the effect of thermomigration is considered.The results show that thermomigration can contribute to the microcrack splitting and accelerate the drifting process along the direction of the electric field.The evolution of the intergranular microcracks depends on the mechanical stress field,the temperature gradient field,the electric field,the initial aspect ratio and the linewidth.And there exists a critical electric fieldχ_c,a critical stress field■,a critical aspect ratioβ_c and a critical linewidth■.When■or■,the intergranular microcrack will split into two or three small intergranular microcracks.Otherwise,the microcrack will evolve into a stable shape as it migrates along the interconnect line.The critical stress field,the critical electric field and the critical aspect ratio decrease with a decrease in the linewidth,and the critical linewidth increases with an increase in the electric field and the aspect ratio.The increase of the stress field,the electric field or the aspect ratio and the decrease of the linewidth are not only beneficial for the intergranular microcrack to split but also accelerate the microcrack splitting process.

A Review of the Study on the Electromigration and Power Electronics

Electromigration is a main challenge in the pursuit of power electronics, because physical limit to increase current density in power electronics is electromigration (EM), whereas much higher electrical current and voltage are required for power electronics packaging. So the effect of EM is an important issue in applications where high current densities are used, such as in microelectronics and related structures (e.g., Power ICs). Since the structure size of integrated circuits (ICs) decreases and the practical significance of this effect increases, the result is EM failure. On the other hand, in the next generation power electronics technology electrical current density is expected to exceed 107 A/cm2 which is another challenge. This review work has been carried out to identify the mechanism of EM damage in power electronics (e.g., pure metallization and solder joints) and also how to control this kind of damage.

Mass transport phenomena in copper nanowires at high current density

Electromigration in Cu has been extensively investigated as the root cause of typical breakdown failure in Cu interconnects. In this study Cu nanowires connected to Au electrodes are fabricated and observed using in situ transmission electron microscopy to investigate the electro- and thermo-migration processes that are induced by direct current sweeps. We observe the dynamic evolution of different mass transport mechanisms. A current density on the order of 106 A/cm^2 and a temperature of approximately 400 ℃ are sufficient to induce electro- and thermo-migration, respectively. Observations of the migration processes activated by increasing temperatures indicate that the migration direction of Cu atoms is dependent on the net force from the electric field and electron wind. This work is expected to support future design efforts to improve the robustness of Cu interconnects.