Thermal stress-induced voiding in narrow aluminum-based metallizations used as interconnects in microelectronic circuits has recently become a serious reliability concern. Room-temperature stress relaxation and associated physical phenomena in passivated and unpassivated aluminum-based metallizations, subsequent to exposure to high temperatures, are analyzed based both on theoretically estimated and experimentally determined thermal stresses. It is shown that stress relaxation at longer times involves mainly dislocation climb, while short-term relaxation during cool down from higher temperatures, and immediately thereafter, involves significant dislocation glide. Void growth, frequently observed in passivated metallizations, provides a new source of atoms to feed stress relaxation by the same processes as in the absence of voiding.
Stress relaxation in aluminum films of several thicknesses was characterized by using both continuous indentation and x-ray diffraction techniques. Results of the indentation and x-ray stress measurements compare closely for films of small thicknesses. Indentation data from thicker films do not compare well to the x-ray data due to the presence of a residual stress distribution.
The mechanical properties of the diamondlike coatings deposited with mass-separated C+, CH+3, CH+4, and C2H+2 ion beams have been compared. The hardness, abrasive wear resistance, and adhesion of the coatings prepared with the C+ ion beam were superior to those of the coatings prepared with other ions. The most serious drawback of the films prepared with hydrocarbon beams was their brittleness and weak adhesion.
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