TY - JOUR
T1 - Electromigration-Induced Surface Drift and Slit Propagation in Polycrystalline Interconnects
T2 - Insights from Phase-Field Simulations
AU - Mukherjee, Arnab
AU - Ankit, Kumar
AU - Selzer, Michael
AU - Nestler, Britta
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge financial support from the ministry of the state Baden-Wuerttemberg through the initiative Mittelbau, from Bundesministerium for Wirtschaft und Energie within the project KerSOLife100 and from the Helmholtz Association through the project KIT-Geothermal integration initiative within the program RE-renewable energies. K.A. acknowledges start-up financial support from the College of Engineering at Arizona State University.
Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge financial support from the ministry of the state Baden-Wuerttemberg through the initiative “Mittelbau,” from “Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie” within the project “KerSOLife100” and from the Helmholtz Association through the project “KIT-Geothermal integration initiative” within the program “RE-renewable energies.” K. A. acknowledges start-up financial support from the College of Engineering at Arizona State University.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Physical Society.
PY - 2018/4/4
Y1 - 2018/4/4
N2 - We employ the phase-field method to assess electromigration (EM) damage in wide polycrystalline interconnects due to grain-boundary grooving. An interplay of surface and grain-boundary diffusion is shown to drastically influence the mode of progressive EM damage. Rapid atomic transport along the surface leads to shape-preserving surface drift reminiscent of Blech drift-velocity experiments. On the other hand, a comparatively faster grain-boundary transport localizes the damage, resulting in the proliferation of intergranular slits with a shape-preserving tip. At steady state, the two regimes exhibit exponents of 1 and 3/2, respectively, in Black's law. While surface drift obeys an inverse scaling with grain size, slits exhibit a direct relationship at small sizes, with the dependence becoming weaker at larger ones. Furthermore, we explain the influence of curvature- or EM-mediated healing fluxes running along the surface on groove replenishment. Insights derived from phase-field simulations of EM in bicrystals are extended to investigate the multiphysics of mixed-mode damage of a polycrystalline interconnect line that is characterized by a drift of small grain surfaces, slit propagation, and coarsening. The triple and quadruple junctions are identified as prominent sites of failure.
AB - We employ the phase-field method to assess electromigration (EM) damage in wide polycrystalline interconnects due to grain-boundary grooving. An interplay of surface and grain-boundary diffusion is shown to drastically influence the mode of progressive EM damage. Rapid atomic transport along the surface leads to shape-preserving surface drift reminiscent of Blech drift-velocity experiments. On the other hand, a comparatively faster grain-boundary transport localizes the damage, resulting in the proliferation of intergranular slits with a shape-preserving tip. At steady state, the two regimes exhibit exponents of 1 and 3/2, respectively, in Black's law. While surface drift obeys an inverse scaling with grain size, slits exhibit a direct relationship at small sizes, with the dependence becoming weaker at larger ones. Furthermore, we explain the influence of curvature- or EM-mediated healing fluxes running along the surface on groove replenishment. Insights derived from phase-field simulations of EM in bicrystals are extended to investigate the multiphysics of mixed-mode damage of a polycrystalline interconnect line that is characterized by a drift of small grain surfaces, slit propagation, and coarsening. The triple and quadruple junctions are identified as prominent sites of failure.
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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevApplied.9.044004
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevApplied.9.044004
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85045213503
SN - 2331-7019
VL - 9
JO - Physical Review Applied
JF - Physical Review Applied
IS - 4
M1 - 044004
ER -