Stress distribution in an aluminum interconnect of very large scale integration

Abstract

Thermal stress-induced void formation in aluminum interconnect has become a major reliability problem in the usage of very large scale integration circuits. The purpose of this work is to analytically evaluate stresses in the Al line. By applying Eshelby’s method in micromechanics, the stresses in the Al line were estimated analytically as a function of the aspect ratio of the Al line cross section. The yielding criteria in plasticity were applied to examine whether the calculated stresses can induce relaxation by plastic deformation. The analytically calculated results were compared with previous results of numerical calculation and experimental observation.