Date of Award

1-1-2014

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Nanoscale Science and Engineering

Program

Nanoscale Engineering

Content Description

1 online resource (xviii, 183 pages) : color illustrations

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Kathleen Dunn

Committee Members

Steven Novak, James Lloyd, James J Kelly, I. Cevdet Noyan

Keywords

Copper Interconnects, Grain growth, Microstructure Development, Recrystallization, Semiconductor processing, Interconnects (Integrated circuit technology), Copper, Integrated circuits

Subject Categories

Materials Science and Engineering | Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Abstract

As copper interconnects have scaled to ever smaller dimensions on semiconductor devices, the microstructure has become increasingly detrimental for performance and reliability. Small grains persist in interconnects despite annealing at high temperatures, leading to higher line resistance and more frequent electromigration-induced failures. Conventionally, it was believed that impurities from the electrodeposition pinned grain growth, but limitations in analytical techniques meant the effect was inferred rather than observed.

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