The Effects of Passivation Thickness and Initial Aluminum Line Stress on Electromigration Behavior

Abstract

AbstractThe electromigration behavior of pure Al lines passivated with oxides of different thicknesses and passivation deposition temperatures was studied. The initial hydrostatic stress states of the passivated Al lines were modeled with finite element modeling (FEM), and, when possible, measured with X-ray diffraction. Conventional wafer-level electromigration tests showed a clear passivation thickness effect, but no detectable effect of initial stress on electromigration lifetimes. Increasing the passivation thickness increased the electromigration lifetimes, which has been observed by other researchers. However, in a sample set where the Al lines were covered with a thin (0. 1µm) oxide layer, the lifetimes were much longer than expected. Differences in the damage morphology and the failure mechanism between the thin and thicker oxides accounted for this unexpected result.