A nondestructive approach to predict the failure time of thin-film interconnects under high-stress current

We describe a rapid nondestructive approach to predict the failure time for thin-film interconnects. The prediction is made on the basis of the percolation theory and the scaling model, and is verified by experimental results. Al-Cu fuses are used as our thin-film test structures that were subjected to overstressed conditions for failure. A brief description about the test structure and the experimental procedure is presented. The discrepancy between the exact failure time and the predicted failure time is significantly low, which clearly expresses the strength of this prediction technique. Moreover, this technique is nondestructive and possesses great potential to be widely used as a cost efficient and time efficient reliability test technique in semiconductor industries.