MICROTEXTURE ANALYSIS IN ALUMINUM THIN-FILMS

Crystallographic texture is a controlling microstructural feature in d etermining reliability of the interconnect lines processed from alumin um thin-film structures. Orientation imaging microscopy (OIM), a SEM-b ased imaging technique for analyzing the crystallographic structure of materials, has recently been extended to investigate thin-film struct ures. In this research, OIM was used to investigate crystallographic s tructure in thin-film aluminum. Thin films covering a large surface ar ea and thin interconnect lines have each been investigated using this technique. OIM data aid identification of grain boundary types that ar e prone to electromigration or stress-voiding failures.