Stress Induced Phenomena In Metallization

This symposium focuses on new developments in the fields of experimental and theoretical nuclear physics, including nuclear dynamics, nuclear structure including hypernuclei, nuclear matter, nuclear astrophysics, applications. The participants also reported on the innovative instrumentation, including future large-scale facility both in Japan and Italy that will be essential for future studies.

Kyoto, Japan, 4-7 April 2007

These proceedings present current research on issues related to stress-induced phenomena in on-chip metal interconnects and solder joints. The volume will appeal to scientists, engineers, graduate students interested in research and development of microelectronic devices as well as technology integration, and semiconductor industry professionals and equipment suppliers.

Tiny metal structures, less than a millionth of a meter across, are critical building blocks in a number of high-tech devices such as computer chips. These "metallizations" are subjected to extreme conditions of temperature, electric current density, and mechanical load, which may cause the device they are in to fail. This book contains research papers on these metallizations and on the reliability problems associated with them. The papers were peer reviewed for these proceedings.

Continuing the spirit of the previous workshops, the proceedings contain new research results and advances in basic understanding of stress-induced phenomena in metallization. The current technology drive to implement low dielectric constant materials into copper metallization has brought new and significant challenges in process integration and reliability. Stresses arising in metallizations and surrounding dielectric structures due to thermal mismatch, electromigration, microstructure changes or process integration can lead to damage and failure of interconnect structures. Understanding stress-related phenomena in new materials and structures becomes critical for reliability improvement and metallization development. This is reflected in the papers included in the proceedings, which report results on electromigration, thermal stresses and void formation in copper-low k interconnect structures. The book also includes new results on fracture of low k dielectric structures, an important research area for reliability and integration of copper metallization.