Reliability problems of polysilicon/Al contacts due to grain-boundary enhanced thermomigration effects

Design and fabrication of a polyimide-based microelectrode array: Application in neural recording and repeatable electrolytic lesion in rat brain

“…Having a high tolerance threshold for DC, the NCTU probe electrodes were also robust for RF current. As DC was passed through the electrode, electromigration (Arnaud et al, 2000) and thermomigration (Manku and Orchard-Webb, 1995) caused ion migration on the metallic thin-film. Repeated electrolytic lesions, therefore, reduced the thickness of the thinfilm electrode, increasing electrode impedance that consequently caused structurally irreversible electrode malfunction (De Haro et al, 2002).…”

Long-Term Stability of Metal Lines, Polysilicon Gauges, and Ohmic Contacts for Harsh-Environment Pressure Sensors

“…This problem is even more critical in the case of the polysilicon, because the mobility of Al atoms is enhanced at the grain boundaries [15].…”

Effects of electrical and temperature stress on polysilicon resistors for CMOS technology applications

“…Several studies on the modelling of resistor reliability were reported by Akimori et al [6][7][8][9]. The decrease of resistance is mainly attributed to the recrystallization and subsequent polysilicon grain growth [9] and grain boundary dopant segregation during the self-heating process [10]. Despite the influence of electromigration stress on polysilicon resistors reported by Cole et al [5], studies related to the polysilicon resistor reliability have scarcely ever been found.…”

“…Thus extensive studies of the polysilicon resistor reliability are required to obtain highly-reliable and high-performance ULSI products. Several studies on the modelling of resistor reliability were reported by Akimori et al [6][7][8][9]. The decrease of resistance is mainly attributed to the recrystallization and subsequent polysilicon grain growth [9] and grain boundary dopant segregation during the self-heating process [10].…”