Constant-Current Wafer-Level Electromigration Test: Normalization of Data for Production Monitoring

Reliability monitoring is an important part of process control in high-volume production. For metallization, a wafer-level electromigration (WL-EM) test is usually the method of choice to get a good indication of process variation. Different WL-EM methods have been reported, including a constant current method, the SWEAT test, the isothermal test, and the breakdown energy of metal test. The method used in this paper uses the ramping procedure for the isothermal test to achieve the target temperature, but then hold the current constant without feedback correction once the target temperature has been achieved. We present practical normalization procedures to ensure an appropriate wafer-to-wafer comparison that is independent of variation in cross-sectional area as well as of the initial resistance spread. The measurements were performed on a commercially available 200-mm multiside probe station using custom software to implement the current ramp and resistance measurement. Test conditions were achieved through Joule heating; the test structures used were 800-mum-long single lines (no vias) in metal 1 to metal 3, varying in width from 0.14 to 10 mum. Due to variations in the hardware and in the temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR), several normalization steps (described below) were necessary in demonstrating reasonable and expected trends in the data. Results of the analysis suggest that the appropriate value for the current density exponent for this test methodology is two, and they also verify that the TCR varies with linewidth, decreasing as linewidth decreases.