Thermal effects on the electrical degradation of thin film resistors

Recently we introduced a biased percolation model to study the electrical f ailure of thin-film resistors. Here we extend this model by allowing therma l interactions among first neighbour elemental resistances and accounting f or the dependence of each elemental resistance on the local temperature. Mo nte Carlo simulations are performed to investigate the main properties of t he film degradation such as: damage pattern, film lifetime, evolution of th e resistance and of the 1/f resistance-noise spectrum. (C) 1999 Elsevier Sc ience B.V. All rights reserved.