Continuum and atomistic modeling of electromechanically-induced failure of ductile metallic thin films

A multiscale modeling approach is presented for the analysis of electromechanically-induced void morphological evolution and failure in ductile metallic thin films, which are used for device interconnections in integrated circuits. Self-consistent mesoscopic simulations of surface morphological evolution are combined with atomistic calculations of surface properties and molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations of plastic deformation mechanisms in the vicinity of void surfaces. Results are presented that demonstrate a coupled mode of surface instability that leads to formation of electromigration-induced slit-like features and stress-induced crack-like features on void surfaces. In addition, MD results are presented for the dislocation-mediated mechanism and the kinetics of void growth in ductile metallic systems subject to hydrostatic and biaxial tensile strains. The incorporation of MD-derived constitutive information for plastic deformation into the mesoscopic analysis and simulation framework also is discussed.