Dielectric Breakdown in Gigascale Electronics (eBook)

Contents 8
Chapter 1: Introduction 10
1.1 A Brief History of Dielectric Breakdown 10
1.2 Dielectrics and the Microprocessor Age 11
1.3 Copper, Low-kappa Dielectrics, and Current Challenges 14
References 16
Chapter 2: General Theories 19
2.1 Field Acceleration Models for Amorphous Thin Films 19
2.2 Emerging Models for Nano-porous Low-kappa Films 21
References 26
Chapter 3: Measurement Tools and Test Structures 28
3.1 Instruments and Data Acquisition 28
3.2 Metal-Insulator-Si Planar Capacitors 30
3.3 Interconnect Test Chips 32
3.4 P-cap Test Structures 33
References 33
Chapter 4: Experimental Techniques 34
4.1 Dielectric Breakdown Assessment 34
4.1.1 Constant Bias and Constant Current Stress Tests 34
4.1.2 Ramped Voltage and Ramped Current Stress Tests 35
4.1.3 Bipolar Applied Field Tests 36
4.2 Dielectric Characterization 38
4.2.1 Capacitance-Voltage Spectroscopy 38
4.2.2 Triangular Voltage Spectroscopy 40
4.3 Analysis of Interfacial and Bulk Dielectric Composition 41
References 43
Chapter 5: Breakdown Experiments 44
5.1 Intrinsic Dielectric Failure 44
5.2 Metal Ion-Catalyzed Dielectric Failure 46
5.2.1 Fundamentals of Ionic Transport 47
5.2.2 Constitutive Equation for Ions 48
5.2.3 Ionic Flux 48
5.2.4 Poisson´s Equation 49
5.2.5 Boundary Conditions 49
5.2.6 RVS and Bipolar Applied Field Experiments 49
5.3 Plasma Damage and Dielectric Integrity 59
References 63
Chapter 6: Kinetics of Charge Carrier Confinement in Thin Dielectrics 65
6.1 Detection of Charge Trapping in Interlayer Dielectrics 65
6.2 Leakage Current Relaxation and Trapping Kinetics 72
6.3 Constitutive Equation for Electrons 75
6.4 Trapped Electrons 75
6.5 Constitutive Equation for Ions 76
6.6 Poisson´s Equation 76
6.7 Boundary Conditions 77
References 80
Chapter 7: Theory of Dielectric Breakdown in Nano-Porous Thin Films 82
7.1 Charge Transport Fundamentals 82
7.2 Fundamentals for a Charge Transport Model for Dielectric Breakdown 83
7.2.1 Poisson´s Equation 84
7.2.2 Trap Generation 85
7.2.3 Constitutive Equation for Electrons 86
7.2.4 Boundary Conditions 87
7.2.5 Initial Conditions 88
7.3 The Hot Electron 88
7.4 Kinetics of Defect Formation and Ultimate Failure 90
7.5 Evidence for Carbon- and Porogen-Driven Failure 93
References 95
Chapter 8: Dielectric Breakdown in Copper Interconnects 97
8.1 Cu´s Impact on Dielectric Breakdown 97
8.2 Modeling Cu-Driven Dielectric Failure 100
References 102
Chapter 9: Reconsidering Conventional Field Acceleration Models 103
9.1 Charge Transport Model Predictions 103
9.2 New Perspectives 107
References 109