Enhanced finite element modelling of Cu electromigration using ANSYS and matlab

An enhanced finite element modeling methodology based on commercial software ANSYS Multi-physics and Matlab is developed for the study of electromigration. Various driving forces, namely electron wind force migration (EWM), thermomechanical stress gradient induced migration (SM) and temperature gradient induced migration (TM) are simulated and the resulting atomic flux of metal atoms is calculated based on a non-standard use of ANSYS static thermal analysis routine. An automatic link between ANSYS and Matlab is developed to enhance the capability of ANSYS data postprocessing module in the calculation of atomic flux divergence (AFD). The simulation of a polycrystalline Cu thin film identifies a new potential EM reliability hazard in Cu interconnects which agrees well with experimental observations.