Physical properties of thin metal films

The Physical Properties of Thin Metal Films......Page 3
Contents......Page 5
Foreword......Page 9
Introduction to the series......Page 11
Introduction......Page 12
Bulk conductivity of metals......Page 15
Layers of silicides and polysilicon......Page 17
1.1.3 Sheet resistivity......Page 18
1.1.4 The measurement of bulk and sheet resistivities......Page 19
1.1.5 Temperature coefficient of resistivity......Page 21
1.1.7 Internal mechanical stresses......Page 24
1.1.9 The electrical noise and the non-linearity of the current?voltage characteristics......Page 25
1.2 Outline of thin-film preparation......Page 26
The intensity of the molecular beam......Page 27
Cathode sputtering......Page 28
Ionic sputtering with negative bias......Page 29
Liquid-phase epitaxy......Page 30
Molecular beam epitaxy......Page 31
Initiation of the condensation......Page 32
Physical adsorption......Page 33
1.3.3 The lifetime of the adsorbed atom......Page 35
1.3.4 Formation of adsorbed complexes and nuclei......Page 37
1.4 Preparation of metal films by thermal evaporation-condensation in an argon atmosphere......Page 39
The condensation temperature......Page 41
1.5.3 The effect of heat treatment on the electrical conductivity......Page 42
1.5.4 Influence of the film thickness on the conductivity......Page 45
Literature for Chapter 1......Page 47
2.1 Some experimental results......Page 49
2.2.1 The potential barrier between islands......Page 52
2.2.2 Conduction by thermal electron emission......Page 55
2.2.3 Conduction by Schottky field emission......Page 57
2.2.4 Conduction by tunnelling emission......Page 61
2.3 Temperature coefficient of resistance of discontinuous films......Page 63
2.4 Percolation conduction in island films......Page 64
Literature for Chapter 2......Page 65
3.1.1 Thomson’s formula......Page 66
3.1.2 Fuchs’ size effect theory......Page 68
3.1.3 Experimental results on the size effect......Page 74
3.1.4 The temperature coefficient of resistance of metal films......Page 77
3.1.5 The temperature coefficient of resistance of semi-metal films......Page 80
3.2 Hall effect in thin films......Page 82
3.3 Quantum size effect in electrical conduction......Page 85
3.4.1 The phase size effect......Page 89
3.4.2 The effect of the thickness of continuous films on the melting temperature......Page 91
Literature for Chapter 3......Page 93
4.1 Biaxial stress in a thin film......Page 95
4.2.1 Point defects in solids and thin films......Page 97
4.2.2 Voids in metal films......Page 98
4.3 Kinetics of formation of open voids in thin films......Page 101
4.4.1 Structural stresses......Page 107
4.4.3 Physical and chemical stresses......Page 108
4.4.4 Thermal stresses......Page 109
4.5.2 Method of deformation of a circular substrate......Page 110
4.5.3 Method of elastic beam substrate curvature......Page 111
4.6 Experimental data on mechanical stresses in films......Page 113
Literature for Chapter 4......Page 118
5.1 Basic fluctuation theory......Page 119
5.2.1 Noise power spectral density......Page 120
5.2.2 The auto-correlation function and the Wiener-Khintchine theorem......Page 121
5.3 Electrical noise in solids......Page 122
5.3.1 Thermal noise......Page 123
5.3.2 Hot electron noise......Page 128
5.3.3 Shot noise......Page 129
5.3.4 Generation–recombination noise......Page 132
5.3.5 1/f noise......Page 134
5.3.6 Burst \0刀吀匀 noise......Page 135
5.4.1 Common requirements of the theory......Page 137
5.4.2 Distribution of relaxation-times model......Page 139
5.4.3 Carrier number fluctuation Deltan model......Page 140
5.4.4 Mobility fluctuation DeltaMu model......Page 141
5.5.1 Basic observations......Page 144
5.5.2 The vacancy model of 1/f noise......Page 145
Dependence of the 1/f noise on film thickness......Page 149
Changes in the noise due to annealing or aging......Page 152
The temperature dependence of 1/f noise......Page 157
The effect of internal macro-stresses on the flicker noise in metal films......Page 159
Dependence of the 1/f noise on mechanical strains......Page 162
The effect of structural factors on the level of the 1/f noise......Page 165
Excess noise in metal films with a high concentration of stable defects......Page 167
5.6 Excess noise in thin-film M1–M2 contacts......Page 168
5.7 Noise equivalent circuits......Page 170
5.8 The measurement of noise in conducting films......Page 171
Literature for Chapter 5......Page 174
6.1 Introduction......Page 177
6.2 The spectrum of the response to sinusoidal excitation......Page 178
6.3 Experiments to study non-linear effects in films......Page 179
6.4 The effect of different variables on the CVC non-linearity in metal films......Page 181
6.5 Mechanisms of cubic non-linearity in metal films......Page 183
6.6 Experimental results on the CVC quadratic non-linearity in metal films......Page 186
6.7 Non-equilibrium 1/f noise in metal and alloy films caused by excess vacancies......Page 187
6.8 The measurement of non-equilibrium 1/f noise......Page 191
6.9 Experimental results on non-equilibrium 1/f noise in molybdenum films......Page 192
Literature for Chapter 6......Page 194
7.1 Electromigration in thin films......Page 196
7.1.2 Median time to failure of thin-film conductors......Page 197
7.1.3 Basic theory of electromigration in conductors......Page 199
7.1.4 Electromigration in thin films......Page 202
7.1.5 Mass transport in the crystal lattice......Page 203
7.1.6 Mass transportation along grain boundaries......Page 204
7.1.7 Effective charge of ions......Page 205
7.1.8 Divergence of the ion flow......Page 207
7.1.9 Influence of the structural heterogeneity on electromigration......Page 209
7.1.10 Electromigration in multicomponent systems......Page 213
7.1.11 Fabrication imperfections which accelerate electromigration......Page 215
The activation energy of electromigration......Page 216
Dielectric overlayers......Page 218
7.2 Corrosion and oxidation of metal interconnects......Page 219
7.3 The 1/f2 noise in metal films......Page 221
7.4 Fast reliability tests......Page 223
7.5 Second harmonic generation in electromigration damage......Page 224
Literature for Chapter 7......Page 225