Real case studies of failure mechanisms for Cu trench electromigration

Author

Lai, J.B. ; Yang, J.L. ; Yang, H.W. ; Hwang, R.L. ; Su, David ; Chuang, Harry ; Huang, AndY S.

Author_Institution

Taiwan Semicond. Manuf. Co., Hsin-Chu, Taiwan

fYear

2003

fDate

30 March-4 April 2003

Firstpage

596

Lastpage

597

Abstract

The morphology of voids formed during electromigration testing of Cu lines provides important clues to solve process-related problems. In this work, deep and isolated voids are found in samples with shorter life times, while long and shallow voids are found in the ones with longer life times. Serious overetching of the SiN trench etching stop layer is found in early failures and result in nucleation of voids from the sidewalls of trenches.

Keywords

copper; electromigration; failure analysis; integrated circuit interconnections; integrated circuit reliability; voids (solid); Cu; Cu trench electromigration; SiN; SiN trench etching stop layer; case studies; deep isolated voids; dual damascene processes; early failures; electromigration testing; failure analysis results; failure mechanisms; long shallow voids; overetching; single damascene processes; trench sidewalls; void morphology; void nucleation; Computer aided software engineering; Copper; Electromigration; Etching; Failure analysis; Scanning electron microscopy; Silicon compounds; Surface morphology; Testing; Transmission electron microscopy;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Reliability Physics Symposium Proceedings, 2003. 41st Annual. 2003 IEEE International

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7649-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/RELPHY.2003.1197823

Filename

1197823