In system level electromigration test of 2.5D integrated circuits, a failure mode due to synergistic effect of Joule heating and electromigration has been found. In the test circuit, there are three levels of solder joints, two Si chips (one of them has through-Si-via), and one polymer substrate. In addition, there are two redistribution layers; one between every two levels of solder joints. We found that the redistribution layer between the flip chip solder joints and micro-bumps is the weak-link and failed easily by burn-out in electromigration test. The failure is time-dependent with sudden resistance increase. Preliminary simulation results show that Joule heating has a positive feedback to electromigration in the redistribution layer and caused the thermal run-away failure. Joule heating becomes an important reliability issue in the future scaling of semiconductor devices.
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7 October 2015
Research Article|
October 07 2015
Synergistic effect of electromigration and Joule heating on system level weak-link failure in 2.5D integrated circuits
Yingxia Liu;
Yingxia Liu
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering,
UCLA
, Los Angeles, California 90095-1595, USA
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Menglu Li
;
Menglu Li
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering,
UCLA
, Los Angeles, California 90095-1595, USA
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Dong Wook Kim;
Dong Wook Kim
2
Qualcomm
, San Diego, California 92121, USA
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Sam Gu
;
Sam Gu
2
Qualcomm
, San Diego, California 92121, USA
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a)
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Electronic mail: kntu@ucla.edu
J. Appl. Phys. 118, 135304 (2015)
Article history
Received:
August 12 2015
Accepted:
September 23 2015
Citation
Yingxia Liu, Menglu Li, Dong Wook Kim, Sam Gu, K. N. Tu; Synergistic effect of electromigration and Joule heating on system level weak-link failure in 2.5D integrated circuits. J. Appl. Phys. 7 October 2015; 118 (13): 135304. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4932598
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