Electromigration-aware design

The most common wearout phenomena that impact reliability are: metal electromigration (EM), time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB), hot carrier induced damage (HCID), negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) and thermal cycling. This paper focuses on electromigration and proposes two novel solutions. The first is the use of routing (or slotted) vias for improving electromigration performance for dual damascene copper interconnect without increasing the lateral dimensions of the wires. The second is the use of electromigration ldquoreliability sensorsrdquo in order to detect impending failure of interconnect. The proposed solutions show good results in simulations and measurements of test structures.