The kinetics of the early stages of electromigration and concurrent temperature induced processes in thin film metallisations studied by means of an in-situ high resolution resistometric techniuqe

摘要

Compared with traditional test techniquees, the in-situ high resolution rwsitometric techinque allows a sensitive monitoring of thin film metllisations submitted to 'realistic' current stress levels and reveals the occurrence of distinct reversible and irreversible processes. A review is provided of the processes observed in metallisations submitted to three regions of current stress: no current stress, low current density strss (j<0.5 MA/cm~2) and `high' current density stress (j>0.5 MA.cm~2). Discarding the contributions fo the conurrent, temperature induced, masking mechanisms results in an accurate observation of the kinetics of the early stages of electromigration, revealing fundamental features such as incubation time, subsequent linear resistance increase and current and current and temperature dependence.