Modelling the stress effect during metal migration in electronic interconnects

Stress effects during metal migration and their numerical modeling methods are reviewed. A multi-physics simulation method is proposed and developed so that the electric current and stress can be solved simultaneously and the vacancy concentration predicted in a seamless framework. The stress generated by atomic movement and back stress effects [1] have been especially considered and modeled in this work. The results are compared to experiment without considering stress evolution and are in accordance with Blech's experimental results [1] and Black's model [2].