Experimental verification of prediction method for electromigration failure of polycrystalline lines

A prediction method for electromigration failure in polycrystalline lines h as been proposed using the governing parameter of electromigration damage, the atomic flux divergence (AFD(gen)), and the usefulness has been verified by experiment where various line shapes were treated under various operati ng conditions. In the prediction method, lifetime and failure site in a met al line have been predicted by numerical simulation of the processes of voi d initiation, its growth, to line failure. The simulation has predicted acc urately the lifetime as well as the failure site of the metal line. In the verification, however, the metal lines treated had the same grain size, tha t is, the same microstructure. In this article, the prediction method for t he electromigration failure of polycrystalline lines was verified in more d etail, by comparing the prediction results of lifetime and failure site wit h the results of experiments using not only various shaped lines but also l ines whose microstructures were different. (C) 2000 American Institute of P hysics. [S0021-8979(00)04406-6].