Abstract
An unexpected mode of plastic deformation was observed in damascene Cu interconnect test structure during an in-situ electromigration experiment and before the onset of visible microstructural damages (void, hillock formation). We show here, using a synchrotron technique of white beam X-ray microdiffraction, that the extent of this electromigration-induced plasticity is dependent on the line width. The grain texture of the line might also play an important role. In wide lines, plastic deformation manifests itself as grain bending and the formation of subgrain structures, while only grain rotation is observed in the narrower lines. This early stage behavior can have a direct bearing on the final failure stage of electromigration.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) for valuable discussions. One of the authors (ASB) was supported through the SRC Grant: Task ID. 945.001. The Advanced Light Source (ALS) is supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences Division, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC03-76SF00098 at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
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Budiman, A.S., Tamura, N., Valek, B.C. et al. Unexpected Mode of Plastic Deformation in Cu Damascene Lines Undergoing Electromigration. MRS Online Proceedings Library 812, 73 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-812-F7.3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-812-F7.3