Electromigration reliability of dual-damascene Cu/porous methylsilsesquioxane low k interconnects

Electromigration (EM) reliability was investigated for Cu/porous low k interconnects. The porous low k dielectric was a methylsilsesquioxane (MSQ) based spin-on organosilicate material with k of 2.2. The activation energy for EM failure was found to be about 0.9 eV for Cu/porous MSQ between 208 and 367 °C, which is commonly associated with mass transport at the Cu/SiNx cap-layer interface. The threshold product of current density and line length (jL)c for Cu/porous MSQ was found to be 2500–3000 A/cm. The reduction in EM lifetime compared with Cu/oxide interconnect can be attributed to smaller back stress, due to less thermomechanical confinement of Cu/low k interconnects. Most interconnects failed by voiding at the cathode. Some lateral Cu extrusion followed by interfacial breakdown was also observed near the anode.