Influence of grain size on defect-related early failures in VLSI interconnects

A model for the effect of grain size on the defect-related early failures is proposed, and experimental work that supports the model reported. In addition, the differences between life-test results at accelerated and at use conditions are shown to cause problems when extrapolation of early failure times is attempted from accelerated life-tests, in the case of small-grain-size metallizations. Significant differences in the way defects influence the failure distributions at 80 degrees C and 200 degrees C indicate that it is nontrivial to determine early failure times by extrapolation of accelerated life-test results of operating conditions, when the grain size is small.<>