Alloying effects on electromigration mass transport - art. no. 035901

Small amounts of alloying elements can significantly retard electromigratio n in conductor lines. This phenomenon is experimentally well established bu t is still lacking a fundamental explanation. An atomic-level mechanism for this behavior is proposed here which is based on a kinetic analysis of dif fusion in crystalline interfaces, it predicts a reduction or reversal of th e Bur of host atoms for physically reasonable parameters and can account fo r the observed effect of copper on electromigration in aluminum conductor l ines.