ELECTROMIGRATION IN THIN-FILMS FOR MICROELECTRONICS

Electromigration (EM) is one of the major concerns for the development of ULSI devices, but not all the aspects of the phenomenon are presen tly well understood. In this paper well established results and unsolv ed problems are reviewed and discussed. First, the physical model and in particular the influence of the mechanical stress on EM is consider ed. Then, the various techniques used to characterize electromigration are analyzed, making distinction between traditional techniques (medi an time to failure technique and resistometric methods) and more recen tly developed methods (high-resolution resistometric techniques and lo w-frequency noise measurement), also considering the fast techniques u sed for metallization testing in the industrial environment. Finally, a section is devoted to the problem of test-structure and test-procedu re standardization in EM experiments.