Electromigration in thin films was shown to lead to stepwise increases in the electrical 1/f noise. These were attributed to the generation of highly mobile defect configurations, via nucleation and growth. It was suggested that, among them, were defects that were responsible for the eventual failure of devices due to electromigration damage. The 1/f noise was expected to provide an early indication of this damage.

K.Dagge, W.Frank, A.Seeger, H.Stoll: Applied Physics Letters, 1996, 68[9], 1198-200