Monte Carlo simulation of electromigration in polycrystalline metal stripes

We have developed a Monte Carlo simulator of the electromigration process i n polycrystalline metal stripes. Stripes with different average grain size can be generated with Voronoi tesselation, and mapped onto a network of res istors. The proposed model includes the major role played by grain boundari es and by the current density redistribution within the stripe following vo id formation. Simulations of stripes with different grain sizes and differe nt widths are shown, and a few expressions for the failure probability are compared on the basis of their capability of reproducing the experimental r esults. In addition, electromigration noise has been computed, recovering t he characteristic 1/f(gamma) (gamma approximate to 2) behaviour. The substa ntial qualitative agreement between our calculations and the experimental r esults is a convincing test of the capability of the model proposed to incl ude the relevant physics.