Quantitative Measure of EM-Induced Drift in Sub-Micron Al Lines

Electromigration-induced drift in sub-micron wide Al segments has been measured using energy dispersive x-ray analysis in a scanning electron microscope. This technique, which works on both passivated and unpassivated samples, is sensitive to uniform Al displacements as small as 100 nm. The samples were 0.3 and 0.5 µm wide runners consisting of a continuous Ti/TiN line on top of which were patterned 0.4µm thick Al (0.5wt% Cu) segments of lengths varying between 5 and 100 µm. The microstructure, as determined by focused ion beam imaging, was predominantly bamboo. We have measured the Al depletion at the cathode ends of these segments after stressing for various times at 2 MA/cm2 at 200'C. For segments shorter than roughly 15 µm, no depletion occurred during the entire 100 hours of the experiment, yielding a value of the current-length threshold product of roughly 3000 A/cm, in agreement with previously published data. Longer segments (20-25 µm) depleted at a roughly constant rate for the duration of the experiment, yielding a drift velocity of around 3 nm/hr in the 0.5 µm wide lines, also in good agreement with published data for near-bamboo lines. However, the 0.3 µm wide lines drifted faster at roughly 6.5 nm/hr. The longest segments (50-100 µm), which started drifting at the same rate as the shorter segments, accelerated after 50 hours of testing to drift velocities in excess of 40 nm/hr. This may be associated with the depletion of Cu from the drifting end.