Non-Destructive Electrical Techniques as Means for Understanding the Basic Mechanisms of Electromigration

In this paper results of recently developed high resolution resistometric electromigration techniques will be described, with particular attention to the behaviour of narrow, near-bamboo metal lines. After a discussion on recent theoretical results published in the literature, a diffusion model correlating mechanical stress and electromigration will be adopted to describe experimental results of relative resistance change both during and after electromigration. The good agreement between experimental data and simulations must not hide that something must still be understood about the physical mechanism leading to resistance changes during electromigration experiments.