Effect of Impurities on Stress Induced Void Formation in Al-1% Si Conductors

It is shown in the present study that during the HTS (hot temperature storage) test, the metal contamination by impure elements can be highly susceptible to the void formation, leading to the open failure of the power line in the memory device. Such a functional failure associated with the metal contamination was investigated to be dominant in the early stages of the HTS test while the formation of a stress-driven void is mainly observed in the later stages. In particular, it was found that the void formed in the contaminated metal takes on a slit-like shape which has been known to be characteristic of the stress-related voiding. The impure elements leading to the metal degradation were identified to be carbon and oxygen introduced during the metal sputtering process. The experimental works show that the device reliability was significantly improved by reducing the level of such impure elements within metal. It is shown in the present study that during the HTS (hot temperature storage) test, the metal contamination by impure elements can be highly susceptible to the void formation, leading to the open failure of the power line in the memory device. Such a functional failure associated with the metal contamination was investigated to be dominant in the early stages of the HTS test while the formation of a stress-driven void is mainly observed in the later stages. In particular, it was found that the void formed in the contaminated metal takes on a slit-like shape which has been known to be characteristic of the stress-related voiding. The impure elements leading to the metal degradation were identified to be carbon and oxygen introduced during the metal sputtering process. The experimental works show that the device reliability was significantly improved by reducing the level of such impure elements within metal.