A Statistical Model for Electromigration Induced Failure in Thin Film Conductors

A statistical model has been developed that relates the electromigration-induced failure rates of metallized conductors to the physical processes that cause such failures. The analytical formulation of this model suggests: i) a resolution of the controversy regarding the relationship between mean times-to-failure and the current density, ii) a potentially more useful statistical analysis for failure rates, and, iii) the possibility that electro-migration failure rates and their statistics may be computed after making only a few simple measurements to characterize the system.