Relaxation of thermal stress by dislocation motion in passivated metal interconnects

The development and relaxation of stress in metal interconnects strained by their surroundings (substrate and passivation layers) is predicted by a discrete dislocation analysis. The model is based on a two-dimensional plane strain formulation, with deformation fully constrained in the line direction. Plastic deformation occurs by glide of edge dislocations on three slip systems in the single-crystal line. The substrate and passivation layers are treated as elastic materials and therefore impenetrable for the dislocations. Results of the simulations show the dependence of the stress evolution and of the effectiveness of plastic relaxation on the geometry of the line. The dependence of stress development on line aspect ratio, line size, slip plane orientation, pitch length, and passivation layer thickness are explored.