Title :
Thermal conductance of IC interconnects embedded in dielectrics
Author :
Harmon, D. ; Gill, J. ; Sullivan, T.
Author_Institution :
IBM Microelectron. Div., Essex Junction, VT, USA
Abstract :
Accurate prediction of temperatures in metal wiring for integrated circuits is essential to the evaluation of electromigration reliability for high-frequency applications and electrical overload as well as for wafer-level die testing. Accurate prediction requires knowledge of the thermal conductivity of the surrounding dielectric and the heating effect of applied currents. Both quasi-analytical and numerical models for line heating as a function of applied current are presented for the case of lines fully embedded in a dielectric. Heat loss and current density at the melting point are projected as a function of linewidth, line thickness, underlying insulator thickness and insulator thermal conductivity. As intuitively expected, these projections indicate the allowed current density decreases with increasing linewidth, line thickness and insulator thickness, and also decreases as thermal conductivity decreases. Furthermore, the models are found to match heat loss measurements for isolated lines in SiO2 and return a value of 1.07 W/m-°K for the thermal conductivity of the oxide
Keywords :
integrated circuit interconnections; integrated circuit modelling; thermal conductivity; SiO2; current density; dielectric matrix; embedded IC interconnect; heat loss; integrated circuit; metal wiring; numerical model; quasi-analytical model; thermal conductance; Application specific integrated circuits; Circuit testing; Current density; Dielectrics and electrical insulation; Electromigration; Heating; Integrated circuit interconnections; Temperature; Thermal conductivity; Wiring;
Conference_Titel :
Integrated Reliability Workshop Final Report, 1998. IEEE International
Conference_Location :
Lake Tahoe, CA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-4881-8
DOI :
10.1109/IRWS.1998.745358