Reliability Simulation and Life Prediction of TSV Under a Thermoelectric Coupling Field in a 3D Integrated Circuit

The reliability of through silicon via (TSV) in a 3-dimensional integrated circuit (3D IC) determines whether the electronic system can operate continuously and steadily. The finite element method was adopted to study the response of TSV to thermoelectric coupling, the effect of different dielectric layer materials and the filling degree of carbon nanotubes (CNT) on TSV reliability were investigated, respectively. Through orthogonal simulation experiments, the high reliability of a type of TSV with benzocyclobutene (BCB) dielectric layer and filling by a coaxial hybrid CNT bundle was verified, and its lifetime was predicted by the failure of the physical model. The simulation results show that the most important influence factor to TSV reliability is the depth-to-width ratio, the second important factor is the choice of dielectric material, and the least important factor is the filling degree of CNT. The parameter values with the optimum reliability are as follows: the depth-to-width ratio of copper column is 20, the dielectric material is BCB, and the CNT filling degree is 4–8%.