Mathewson, A,De Oca, CGM,Foley, S

2001

September

Microelectronics Reliability

Thermomechanical stress analysis of Cu/low-k dielectric interconnect schemes

Validated

()

41

1637

1641

Copper and low dielectric constantant (k) materials are poised to become the dominant interconnect scheme for integrated circuits for the future because of the low resistance and capacitance that they offer which can improve circuit performance by more than 30% over conventional interconnect schemes. This paper addresses the thermo mechanical stresses in the Cu/low-k interconnect schemes through numerical simulation and identifies the locations of maximum stress in the structure with view to providing information on the impact that different dielectric materials have on the stress distribution in the interfaces between metals and dielectric layers. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.