Electrical noise and VLSI interconnect reliability

This paper discusses the characteristics of noise sources in Al-based thin films and their relationships to VLSI reliability. Techniques of applying noise measurements in detecting existing defects/damages in the films, determining electromigration activation energy, and predicting the time to failure of VLSI interconnects are presented. The noise measurement technique can be applied to wafer-level reliability testing because it is much faster than the conventional MTF method and is nondestructive in nature. Some important considerations for wafer-level reliability testing via noise measurements are also presented in this paper.<
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