Line and via voiding measurements in damascene copper lines using metal illumination

Author

Borden, Peter G. ; Li, J.P. ; Smith, Steven R. ; Diebold, Alain C. ; Chism, William Wesley, II

Author_Institution

Appl. Mater. Inc., Menlo Park, CA, USA

Volume

16

Issue

3

fYear

2003

Firstpage

409

Lastpage

416

Abstract

New methods for monitoring via and line voiding in metal interconnect structures are described. A focused laser beam injects heat into a structure such as a line or via chain, which may have width considerably smaller than the spot size. Conduction of heat, and therefore temperature under the spot, is a function of via or line integrity. Probing the temperature using laser reflection provides a direct nondestructive measure of via continuity or line voiding.

Keywords

copper; integrated circuit interconnections; integrated circuit measurement; measurement by laser beam; voids (solid); Cu; damascene Cu lines; focused laser beam; laser reflection; line integrity; line voiding monitoring; metal illumination; metal interconnect structures; temperature probing; via integrity; via voiding monitoring; voiding measurements; Circuit faults; Copper; Dielectrics; Fluorescence; Focusing; Integrated circuit interconnections; Lighting; Scanning electron microscopy; Temperature; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Semiconductor Manufacturing, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0894-6507

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TSM.2003.815633

Filename

1219487