A new method for comparing migration abilities of conductor systems based on conventional electroanalytical techniques

There are various metallization types, pure metals as well as alloys, showing very different abilities for migration. Their comparison is available only through empirical way. There are two main possibilities for getting information or comparison about the migration behavior of a sample: the water drop test and accelerated climatic tests. The results are generally uncertain showing large spreading and can only be interpreted with difficulties. Further problems are the undefined conditions and many subjective things with the Water Drop (WD) test while rather long periods of tests and special test chambers are necessary to perform climatic tests. A third method has been developed and will be presented in the paper for testing metallization systems based on a powerful technique; this is the very well known cyclic voltammetry used in the electroanalytical chemistry. The results indicate an effective method for making quick comparison between metallization systems in connection with their migration abilities.