Electromigration…From Black to Blech and beyond

Electromigration remains one of the most important reliability issues in semiconductor technology. The change to Cu metallization has only delayed, not eliminated the threat. For the uninitiated, the subject appears to be complex and mysterious, however, with an understanding of the basic physics and materials science of electromigration, everything becomes clear and the enlightened engineer can make a reasonable assessment of the data and have confidence designing and interpreting tests that lead to reliability projections and design rule generations. This tutorial will begin with the very basic physics of electromigration to understand the meaning and correct applications of Black's Law, the Blech Length effect and bring the student up to the present level of understanding of electromigration in Cu/low-k structures and lead-free solder applications. The tutorial will be useful for beginners and for more experienced engineers and scientists ending with a discussion of the future of electromigration in emerging technologies.

Jim Lloyd

Studied with Prof. Milt Ohring of Stevens Institute of Technology and Sho Nakahara of Bell Laboratories and actually did his Ph.D. thesis on electromigration. He's been with the subject ever since. Following graduation he spent 10 years with IBM in East Fishkill and then 8 years with Digital Equipment Corporation working on electromigration and other reliability issues in the most advanced integrated circuit technologies. During this time he was also a visiting scientist at the Max-Planck-Institut in Stuttgart Germany. After a brief time as an independent consultant and then at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, he returned to IBM at TJ Watson Research Center where he has continued research into electromigration and, most recently, into the reliability of low-k interlevel dielectrics and lead-free solders. He has published extensively in the scientific and professional literature and has held numerous seminars, tutorials and short courses in reliability physics. Dr. Lloyd is also obsessed with aviation history and welding junk together.