Deformation of octahedron slotted metal tracks

The advantage of an increased lifetime of slotted metal tracks for the use in integrated circuits has already been shown. A benefit for slotted metal track geometries especially for thick metal tracks under DC and DC pulsed stress test conditions could be confirmed by lifetime measurements. To achieve a higher current capability these metal tracks, also known as “power metals”, were used in upper metallization layers. This new design concept shows a better robustness towards electromigration in comparison to conventional wide unslotted metal tracks. A new concept deals with the use of slotted geometries in lower metallization layers. Simulations show a decrease of von Mises stress in comparison to unslotted metal tracks. This behaviour can reduce the current shift of active and passive devices due to the imposed stress of the lower metallization layers.