No abstract

Abstract-In this paper, the mechanism of plasma-charging damage (PCD) of metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors as well as possible protection schemes are discussed. A range of test structures with different antennas simulating interconnect layout variations have been used to investigate the mechanism of PCD of MIM capacitors. Based on the experimental results, two models are presented, describing the relation between the damage and the ratio of the area of the exposed antennas connected to the MIM capacitors plates. New design rules are proposed in order to predict and automatically flag possible PCD sites. Furthermore, layout solutions to reduce PCD are suggested. Index Terms-Antenna ratio (AR), metal-insulator-metal (MIM), plasma-charging damage (PCD).

No abstract

Electron Shading (ESj-effects were studied as a function of reactor-and transistor-type. It was found that the classical ES-effect, which occurs during the latent antenna regime, dominates for the current high-density plasma-reactors, independent of the used transistor-type.However, for less dense plasma-reactors the socalled extended ES-effect, which occurs during the overetch regime, can ovemle the classicai ES-effect depending on the transistor-type.

No abstract

No abstract

Deformations of metal interconnects, cracks in interlayer dielectrics and passivation layers in combination withplastic-packaging are still a major reliability concern for integrated circuit power semiconductors. In order to describe and understand the failure mechanism and its root cause, already a lot of work has been done in the past. However for the first time the impact of the edge profile of the power metal design on the amount of passivation cracks was investigated in detail. It was found that with a sloped edge profile of the power metal, as it is achieved with a combination of an isotropic wet etch followed by a dry etch, the number of passivation cracks is reduced significantly. The observation is confirmed by a 3-D FEM simulation. The simulation enabled to quantify the stress level and to forecast corresponding levels of cracks observed after temperature cycling. As a result, a robust metal edge profile design could be deduced, which led to a distinct reduction of the principal stress at the most critical positions and, consequently, to a reduction of passivation damage.978-1-4244-9021-9/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE

No abstract