Electromigration characterization of aluminum thin films

As VLSI chip sizes and packing densities continue to escalate, electromigration failures have become a primary reliability concern. The issues concerning electromigration testing are addressed and an effective test for characterizing electromigration failures is presented. It is shown that this test is a reliable and sensitive measure for determining electromigration resistance based upon the construction of an electromigration database using this test. Lastly, the implementation of an electromigration process control test based upon the characterization is discussed