Investigation and Improvement of Fast Temperature-Cycle Reliability for DMOS-Related Conductor Path Design

Smorodin, T.; Wilde, Jürgen; Alpern, P.; Stecher, M.

doi:10.1109/relphy.2007.369939

Cited by 20 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Stress tests have been carried out at relatively low current density levels, therefore electromigration phenomena are not responsible for the device failure (see Figure 3: simulation by R3D tool from Silicon Frontline [6] of current density on top n-metal, and n-1 metal). Failure occurs because of inter-metal oxide cracking, due to metal plastic deformation (see Figure 4), leading to metal short when the metal extrudes inside the crack (see Figure 5 for AlCu thin metal) [5,6,7].…”

Section: Power Pulsing Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reliability characterization and FEM modeling of power devices under repetitive power pulsing

Pozzobon

Paci

Pizzo

et al. 2013

2013 IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium (IRPS)

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In this work a combined experimental/numerical approach to describe the thermo-mechanical behavior of power devices under repetitive power pulsing is presented. Stress tests have been carried out on power DMOS implemented in Smart Power BCD technology with different Back-End Of Line (BEOL) schemes, including, for the first time, full Copper. Mechanical laboratory nano-indentation tests have been used to determine constituent properties of the metal layers. Thermo-mechanical 3D FEM modeling has been used to simulate a multi-cycle thermal loading of a whole power device with its package. Results from simulation have been qualitatively compared to experimental results. © 2013 IEEE

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Section: Power Pulsing Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reliability characterization and FEM modeling of power devices under repetitive power pulsing

Pozzobon

Paci

Pizzo

et al. 2013

2013 IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium (IRPS)

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“…When considering thin film specimens, especially structured ones, as in microelectronics applications, focused ion beam (FIB) is a widely used preparation technique for investigating general defects, including voids [23][24][25][26]. Compared to embedded mechanical cross-sections, FIB has the advantage that no time-consuming pre-preparation steps are required and that imaging is also possible between different milling steps, allowing for tomographic void analyses [27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electropolishing—A Practical Method for Accessing Voids in Metal Films for Analyses

et al. 2021

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In many applications, voids in metals are observed as early degradation features caused by fatigue. In this publication, electropolishing is presented in the context of a novel sample preparation method that is capable of accessing voids in the interior of metal thin films along their lateral direction by material removal. When performed at optimized process parameters, material removal can be well controlled and the surface becomes smooth at the micro scale, resulting in the voids being well distinguishable from the background in scanning electron microscopy images. Compared to conventional cross-sectional sample preparation (embedded mechanical cross-section or focused ion beam), the accessed surface is not constrained by the thickness of the investigated film and laterally resolved void analyses are possible. For demonstrational purposes of this method, the distribution of degradation voids along the metallization of thermo-mechanically stressed microelectronic chips has been quantified.

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“…This leads to inhomgenities in aluminum thickness and can be observed as buckling in the DICM-image. In the center of the structure the deformation becomes maximum what is typical for wide conductor lines [6] The deformation of the aluminum causes an increaing stress on the ILD and leads to ILD cracking and electric short-circuits. With the thermomechanical test structures it is shown that the use of copper as power metallization provides enhanced power-cycle capabilities compared to aluminum.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This can be attributed to the improved thermal capability and mechanical stability. A detailed analysis of the difference in failure evolution for 3.2 µm and 12.8 µm wide lines covered by an aluminum plate was given in [6]. The devices with 12.8 µm wide lines fail in the center whereas the structures with 3.2 µm fail close to the maximum gradient in temperature.…”

Section: A Thermomechanical Test Structuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Power-cycling of DMOS-switches triggers thermo-mechanical failure mechanisms

Smorodin

Stecher

Wilde

et al. 2007

ESSDERC 2007 - 37th European Solid State Device Research Conference

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Figure 1. Circuit-diagram of a low-side switch driving an inductive load. The relationship between voltage, current and temperature is displayed at the right side. The high power dissipation during the switchoff causes a sharp temperature rise. Figure 2. SEM-image of a DMOS-switch with aluminum in the power metallization after exposure to power-cycle stress. A massive buckling of the metallization and passivation cracks are visible, as well as aluminum extrusions at the broken edges Abstract-In this article the failure behavior of DMOSswitches under power-cycle stress is shown to be dominated by thermo-mechanical deformation of the metallization. The failure evolves without a significant influence from electromigration stress.

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Investigation and Improvement of Fast Temperature-Cycle Reliability for DMOS-Related Conductor Path Design

Cited by 20 publications

References 7 publications

Reliability characterization and FEM modeling of power devices under repetitive power pulsing

Reliability characterization and FEM modeling of power devices under repetitive power pulsing

Electropolishing—A Practical Method for Accessing Voids in Metal Films for Analyses

Power-cycling of DMOS-switches triggers thermo-mechanical failure mechanisms

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