Technology and reliability constrained future copper interconnects. I. Resistance modeling

Abstract

A realistic assessment of future interconnect performance is addressed, specifically, by modeling copper (Cu) wire effective resistivity in the light of technological and reliability constraints. The scaling-induced rise in resistance in the future may be significantly exacerbated due to an increase in Cu resistivity itself, through both electron surface scattering and the diffusion barrier effect. The impact of these effects on resistivity is modeled under various technological conditions and constraints. These constraints include the interconnect operation temperature, the effect of copper-diffusion barrier thickness and its deposition technology, and the quality of the interconnect/barrier interface. Reliable effective resistivity trends are established at various tiers of interconnects, namely, at the local, semiglobal, and global levels. Detailed implications of the effect of resistivity trends on performance are addressed in the second part of this work.