SELF-CONSISTENT SOLUTIONS FOR ALLOWED INTERCONNECT CURRENT-DENSITY .1. IMPLICATIONS FOR TECHNOLOGY EVOLUTION

We comprehend both interconnect electromigration and Joule heating to study for the first time the self-consistent solutions for the maximum allowed interconnect peak current density j(peak) as a function of wa ve shape. The maximum allowed temperature and j(peak) solutions monoto nically increase as the duty cycle r decreases. Self-consistent soluti ons indicate that there are diminishing returns in the usefulness of i ncreasing the electromigration capability of the interconnect system. While the greatest increase in allowed j(peak) occurs at de stress (r = 1), the increases becomes less as r is reduced below 1, and becomes negligible for r < 0.01. Further increases in j(peak) will have to com e at some future time from technology options which lower the temperat ures at which the interconnects operates.