OVERVIEW OF THE KINETICS OF THE EARLY STAGES OF ELECTROMIGRATION UNDER LOW (= REALISTIC) CURRENT-DENSITY STRESS

The early stages of electromigration (EM) have been studied under real istic, i.e. low current densities (j<0.5 MA/cm(2)) using a high resolu tion resistance measurement technique. I,ow current densities initiate EM and discard other masking mechanisms allowing an accurate observat ion of the EM kinetics, revealing fundamental features such as incubat ion time and subsequent linear resistance increase, important for mode lling and life time extrapolation purposes. Current and temperature de pendences are investigated and compared with the results obtained with high current density tests. For the first time it is shown that the p rocesses responsible for the incubation time are reversible in nature. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. tall rights reserved.