Copper Interconnect
State-of-the-art process technologies use copper as chip interconnect material because copper
offers not only lower resistivity but also higher resistance to electromigration wearout. However,
copper interconnect structures are not as deep as aluminium structures, so the cross-section area
is smaller and therefore the current densities are higher. As a result, electromigration-based
failures still occur in copper structures.
In contrast to aluminum-based processes, vias built with copper increase the likelihood of
electromigration wearout and require more detailed verification.