Reliability concerns in copper TSV's: Methods and results

Due to their large volume and close proximity to devices, the reliability of copper TSV's is a concern, both with respect to mechanical stresses induced by the TSV in the Si and with respect to copper drift into the liner and the Si. This abstract summarizes recent achievements obtained in imec's 3D-reliability work package where above mentioned reliability concerns are evaluated in detail. To study the impact of mechanical stresses induced by the TSV in the Si, the saturation drain currents I
d
of transistors have been used as stress sensors. The offset of the I
d
of transistors closer to a TSV with respect to transistors far away from a TSV has been studied, both directly after processing and after thermal storage and thermal shock. It is shown that stresses generated by the TSV in the Si increase after thermal storage above certain temperatures while thermal shock reduces these stresses. The first is attributed to stress relaxation at high temperatures, while the latter is attributed to cracking/delamination at critical interfaces. To study continuity in TSV-barriers, a method, further referred to as dual ramp rate IV
ctrl
, is introduced. The method consists of controlled current-voltage sweeps at different rates. The difference in breakdown fields for different ramp rates allows estimating TDDB (=Time Dependent Dielectric Breakdown) field acceleration parameters. Applying a negative voltage to the TSV (−V) does not allow copper to drift into the liner, while when applying a positive voltage (+V) to the TSV, copper can drift into the liner in case of a defective, non-continuous barrier. Comparing TDDB field acceleration parameters of −V versus +V tests gives insight in barrier properties. In our study, weak reliability is observed in systems where the TSV-barriers are not continuous.