The effects of temperature and microstructure on the components of electromigration mass transport

Experimental data that support a recently proposed model for electromigration in the metal film interconnects are presented. The results indicate that the grain structure of the film coupled with the temperature dependence of the lattice and grain boundary diffusivities plays an important role in determining the relative contributions of these diffusion components to mass transport. For line widths in the range of the median grain size the line width dependence of median fail time, t/sub 50/, results from a change in the relative contribution of these components to the diffusional flux. The model correctly describes the experimental dependence of t/sub 50/ and activation energy on line width.<>