Localization and Electrical Characterization of Interconnect Open Defects

A technique for extracting the electrical and topological parameters of open defects in process monitor lines is presented. The procedure is based on frequency-domain measurements performed at both end points of the line. The location as well as the resistive value of the open defect are derived from attenuation and phase shift measurements. The characteristic defect-free impedance of the line and its propagation constant are considered to be unknowns, and their values are also derived from the above measurements. In this way, the impact of process parameter variations on the proposed model is diminished. The experimental setup required to perform the characterization measurements and a simple graphical procedure to determine the defect and line parameters are presented. Experimental results show a good agreement between the predicted location of the open and its real location, found by optical beam induced resistance change inspection. Errors smaller than 2% of the total length of the line have been observed in the experiments.