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Interconnect Reliability Study Using a Microscopic Nucleation Model for Electromigration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

M. Tammaro and
B. Setlik
M. Tammaro
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Rhode Island, Kingston RI 02881 Tammaro@phys.uri.edu
B. Setlik
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Rhode Island, Kingston RI 02881 Tammaro@phys.uri.edu
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Abstract

A microscopic nucleation model for electromigration is proposed. The solution to the master equations for site occupancy produces a variable current exponent with 1 < n < 2. These results disprove previous claims that n = 2 in nucleation models. We also address the long-standing speculation regarding an additional temperature dependence in Black's equation. Under the premise that the activation energy in Black's equation, E a , should be equal to the energy barrier for atomic hopping, we provide evidence for an additional T 2 dependence of the failure time. Microscopic modeling provides an explicit connection between the macroscopic model behavior and the microscopic parameters of the model. A continuum treatment of our model is derived and compared with standard continuum treatments.

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