3-D Physically-Based Electromigration Simulation in Copper - Low-K Interconnect

We have developed a novel physical model and a simulation algorithm capable of predicting electromigration (EM) induced void nucleation and growth in an arbitrary interconnect segment. Incorporation of all imp ortant atom migration causes into the mass balance equation and its coupled solution with the corresponding electromagnetics, heat transfer and elasticity problems has provided a capability for the EM design rules generation/optimization with the physically based simulations. Simulations have been done on the realistic interconnect structures. Simulation results have been found to fit well to available experimental data regarding the location of void nucleation sites and growth kinetics.