COPPER INTERCONNECTION LINES - SARF CHARACTERIZATION AND LIFETIME TEST

Copper thin films have been deposited onto silicon substrates by means of two different deposition techniques, resulting in metallizations w ith different microstructure. In particular, transmission electron mic roscopy (TEM) observations have shown that the two types of films are characterized by different distributions of the grain size. Lifetime a nd SARF (Spectral Analysis of Resistance Fluctuations) tests have been performed on lines obtained from the two metallizations in order to c ompare their resistance to electromigration. The results of the tests confirm those already obtained in Al based lines; in fact, a clear cor relation exists among the average grain size, the lifetime and the lev el of electromigration noise. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd