The impact of technology scaling on ESD robustness of aluminum and copper interconnects in advanced semiconductor technologies

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) testing results of aluminum (Al) and copper (Cu) interconnect wires and vias for advanced semiconductor technologies demonstrate that interconnects will be a limiting failure mechanism in the future for ESD robustness of semiconductor chips. Comparison of Cu and Al interconnect and vias ESD robustness and failure mechanisms will be shown. Results demonstrate an improvement in the ESD robustness of a Cu-based interconnect system, compared to Albased interconnects, with an improvement in the critical current density, Jcrit, in the human body and machine model time regimes.