X-ray Microscopy Studies of Electromigration in Advanced Copper Interconnects
- BESSY m.b.H, Albert-Einstein-Str. 15, 12489 Berlin (Germany)
- Institut fuer Roentgenphysik, Universitaet Goettingen c/o BESSY, Albert-Einstein-Str. 15, 12489 Berlin (Germany)
- AMD Saxony LLC and Co. KG, Wilschdorfer Landstr. 101, 01109 Dresden (Germany)
X-rays have the advantage that they penetrate samples which are several micrometers thick without significant sample damage, and that they provide a chemical image contrast between different dielectric layers of the Cu/low-k on-chip interconnect stack. Therefore, x-ray microscopy is an ideal tool for quantitative 3-D investigations of void dynamics with high spatial resolution of 20 nm. Using the BESSY full-field transmission x-ray microscope (TXM), we performed electromigration studies of advanced backend-of-line (BEoL) stacks of high-performance microprocessors containing copper interconnects and low-k materials. We observed void movement along the top copper/dielectric (SiNx) interface which is found to be the main pathway for electromigration-induced atomic copper transport.
- OSTI ID:
- 20798181
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 817, Issue 1; Conference: 8. international workshop on stress-induced phenomena in metallization, Dresden (Germany), 12-14 Sep 2005; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2173553; (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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