Drawbacks to using NIST electromigration test-structures to test bamboo metal lines

Author

De Munari, Ilaria ; Scorzoni, Andrea ; Tamarri, Fabrizio ; Govoni, Donato ; Corticelli, Franco ; Fantini, Fausto

Author_Institution

Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell´´Inf., Parma Univ., Italy

Volume

41

Issue

12

fYear

1994

fDate

12/1/1994 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2276

Lastpage

2280

Abstract

In this work the applicability of NIST electromigration test patterns when used to test “bamboo” metal lines is discussed. Wafer level tests on passivated and nonpassivated samples employing the Al-1%Si/TiN/Ti metallization scheme were performed. Straight metal lines 1000 μm long and 0.9 μm or 1.4 μm wide were tested at two different current densities, j=3 MA/cm² and J=4.5 MA/cm², keeping the stress temperature at T=230°C. The failures occurred mainly in the end segment areas and hindered the evaluation of the electromigration resistance of the test lines. In order to avoid this problem, completely different test patterns containing a number of geometrical variations should be defined

Keywords

aluminium alloys; electromigration; integrated circuit measurement; integrated circuit metallisation; integrated circuit testing; passivation; titanium; titanium compounds; 0.9 micron; 1.4 micron; 1000 micron; 230 degC; AlSi-TiN-Ti; AlSi/TiN/Ti metallization; NIST electromigration test-structures; bamboo metal lines; current densities; end segment areas; nonpassivated samples; passivated samples; stress temperature; wafer level tests; Circuit testing; Current density; Electromigration; Metallization; NIST; Performance evaluation; Stress; Temperature; Thin film circuits; Tin;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.337439

Filename

337439