ELECTROMIGRATION - INVESTIGATION OF HETEROGENEOUS SYSTEMS

Abstract

Electromigration is a phenomenon where atoms am driven from their lattice positions due to an electric current. In general two types of electromigration systems can be distinguished: the heterogeneous system, in which electromigration failure occurs at the interface of two distinct parts on the interconnection while in the second, homogeneous case the failure occurs within the interconnection itself. The first type of electromigration is reported in this study and off-chip gold ball bonds on aluminium metallization are used as an example. In-situ electrical measurements of the resistance change as a function of time with different temperature and current stresses are performed. A good understanding of the kinetics of the resistance change could be obtained which helps in the characterisation of the processes active during the degradation of the interconnections.