Intermetallic Compound Growth Characteristics of Cu/thin Sn/Cu Bump for 3-D Stacked IC Package

Isothermal annealing and electromigration tests were performed at $125^{\circ}C$ and $125^{\circ}C$, $3.6{\times}10_4A/cm^2$ conditions, respectively, in order to compare the growth kinetics of the intermetallic compound (IMC) in the Cu/thin Sn/Cu bump. $Cu_6Sn_5$ and $Cu_3Sn$ formed at the Cu/thin Sn/Cu interfaces where most of the Sn phase transformed into the $Cu_6Sn_5$ phase. Only a few regions of Sn were not consumed and trapped between the transformed regions. The limited supply of Sn atoms and the continued proliferation of Cu atoms enhanced the formation of the $Cu_3Sn$ phase at the Cu pillar/$Cu_6Sn_5$ interface. The IMC thickness increased linearly with the square root of annealing time, and increased linearly with the current stressing time, which means that the current stressing accelerated the interfacial reaction. Abrupt changes in the IMC growth velocities at a specific testing time were closely related to the phase transition from $Cu_6Sn_5$ to $Cu_3Sn$ phases after complete consumption of the remaining Sn phase due to the limited amount of the Sn phase in the Cu/thin Sn/Cu bump, which implies that the relative thickness ratios of Cu and Sn significantly affect Cu-Sn IMC growth kinetics.

3차원 적층 패키지를 위한 Cu/thin Sn/Cu 범프구조의 금속간화합물 성장거동분석