Open circuit failures in CVD-WSi/sub x//poly-Si interconnects

It was observed that the polycide interconnect formed on reflowed glass opened during heat treatment in VLSI fabrication. In failure analysis, crevices were observed. These crevices originated from cracks in the WSi/sub x/ film. In order to prevent these failures, correlations between the cracks in the WSi/sub x/ interconnect and the properties of the WSi/sub x/ film are examined in detail. Open failures in polycide interconnects are suppressed by decreasing the tensile stress of WSi/sub x/ films as well as by decreasing their fluorine concentration.<>