In-situ x-ray photoemission spectromicroscopy of electromigration in patterned Al-Cu lines with maximum

We report the application of a unique photoemission spectromicroscope (MAXIMUM) to the study of electromigration phenomena in Al-Cu interconnects. MAXIMUM is a scanning type photoemission microscope that uses multilayer-coated optics to focus 130 eV x-rays to a sub-0.1 mu m spot. An electron energy analyzer collects photoelectrons in a chosen spectral region of interest to form an image of the sample that is sensitive to chemical states of elements on the sample surface. Al-Cu lines were characterized by spectromicroscopy techniques before and after electromigration stressing in the UHV environment of the microscope chamber. We present spectre-micrographs showing the chemical and structural changes on AI-Cu line surfaces as a result of the electromigration process.