Failure mechanisms of thin silicon tantalum integrated circuit (STIC) resistors on multi-chip module (MCM)

Author

Tse, P.K. ; Picard, L.J. ; Swain, J.E. ; Brown, R.W. ; Gurnett, C.J. ; Terefenko, G.J.

Author_Institution

AT&T Bell Lab., Allentown, PA, USA

fYear

1993

Firstpage

94

Lastpage

102

Abstract

Failure mechanisms of STIC (silicon tantalum integrated circuit) resistors on low voltage CBIC (complementary bipolar integrated circuit) devices, assembled onto MCMs (multichip modules), are investigated with specially designed testers. In general, STIC resistors are stable and fit for microelectronic circuit applications. It is shown that thermally stabilized STIC resistors could be destabilized with a basic solution of pH>10 and could subsequently be degraded under the influence of an electric field. The anodization process is shown to follow a phenomenological equation. A model for the possible failure mechanism which includes MCM assembly defluxing solutions, moisture, alkaline elements, and applied voltage is proposed.<>

Keywords

anodisation; circuit reliability; environmental degradation; failure analysis; integrated circuit testing; monolithic integrated circuits; multichip modules; thin film resistors; Si-Ta/sub 2/N; Ta/sub 2/O/sub 5/; alkaline elements; anodization process; applied voltage; assembly defluxing solutions; battery feed circuits; complementary bipolar integrated circuit; failure mechanism; low voltage; model; moisture; monolithic thin film resistors; multi-chip module; thermally stabilized; Assembly; Bipolar integrated circuits; Circuit testing; Failure analysis; Integrated circuit testing; Low voltage; Microelectronics; Multichip modules; Resistors; Silicon;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Reliability Physics Symposium, 1993. 31st Annual Proceedings., International

Conference_Location

Atlanta, GA, USA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-0782-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/RELPHY.1993.283295

Filename

283295