The Effect of Thin Dielectric Layers at Silicon on Interconnection Heating Dynamics at Thermal Shocks

Abstract

The relevance of the study is due to the fact that in the conditions of development of micro-and nanoelectronics, it is necessary to pay attention to resistive switching systems, which are the basis in the structures of these areas of electronics. The work deals with the investigation of the role of thin dielectric layers of silicon oxide and nitride on interconnection heating dynamics at monocrystalline silicon plates. The leading method to the study of this problem is the method of experiment, which allows identifying the features of the influence of the dielectric sublayer on the thermal regimes of multilayer systems. It is shown that passage of current pulses (amplitude up to 6x1010 A/m² and duration up to 600 μs) leads to thermal damage of interconnections right up to breaking the electric circuit. The character of destruction strongly depends on the quality of deposition of dielectric and metal films as well as on the state of the dielectric-metal interface. It was found that the oscillograms of the inclusion, taken during the passage of a current pulse, clearly reflect the change in the dimensional (h2) and thermal (λ2) parameters of the dielectric sublayers; considered the thermal degradation mechanisms of the aluminum metallization systems with thin dielectric sublayers related to its melting; it was found that formation of melted zones is related to local reduction of film cross-section and consequently to the appearance of a melted zone that coagulates into drops in the course of current pulse passing and promotes breaking the electric circuit. The proposed method can be applied to assess the thermal properties of thin films of dielectrics.