Comparative Study of TDDB Models on BEOL Interconnects for Sub-20 nm Spacings.

Time Dependent Dielectric Breakdown (TDDB) data on Back-End of Line (BEOL) inter-metal dielectric comb-serpentine structures having a 17 -nm measured minimum spacing in fields varied from 1.3 MV/cm to 5.3 MV/cm and as a function of temperature (50°C to 125°C) were analyzed. The temperature study suggests a decreasing apparent activation energy with increasing field. In addition, several TDDB failure models were compared, with the lucky electron, the power law & the $\sqrt{\text{E}}$ model showing good fit.