Atomic Mechanics Simulation on Nucleation Process of Grain Boundary Groove in Aluminum Conductor of Microelectronic Packages

Abstract

Failure of microelement such as a conductor in an LSI originates mostly from an atomic-scale defect. In this study, the nucleation process of grain boundary groove in an aluminum conductor is analyzed in terms of atomic mechanics. The motion of atoms near an intersection between grain boundary and surface near the melting temperature is simulated by the molecular dynamics. It, however, is impossible to analyze initiation of groove at the intersection in an actual component at its operating temperature by the molecular dynamics because the simulation can only reproduce the behavior of atoms over a very short period (about 10 -9 sec) due to the limitation of computational resources. A Monte Carlo method to simulate the atomic behavior in a longer period is proposed, focusing on the jumps of atoms along the surface. The grooving at a reasonable temperature is successfully simulated by the proposed method.