Void and extrusion induced failure of submicron multilevel interconnects

Failure mechanism of the submicron multilevel interconnects contained in quad flat package (QFP) subjected to the high temperature operating life. (HTOL) test conditions under temperature and bias was investigated. Apparently, TEM-EDX (X-ray dispersive) reveals that the extrusion of Al metallization appears on the ground and voltage imposed metal line. Such phenomena which may need to be taken into account include stresses induced by the given stress test conditions correlated to the layout of electronic circuit. For the verification purpose, a new layout is committed and subjected to the HTOL.