Theoretical and experimental work on electromigration-voiding in nano-indented monocrystalline lines was considered. A recently suggested voiding criterion (critical accumulated flux divergence) was found to be identical to the critical stress criterion. Inclusion of the stress dependence of the atomic diffusion coefficient was shown to be essential when the steady state was characterized by J ≠ 0; as in the case of a void growing at a constant rate. It was found that the stress which was required for steady void growth, within monocrystalline Al lines, was probably appreciably smaller than had previously been suggested.

Electromigration Voiding in Nanoindented, Single Crystal Al Lines. V.M.Dwyer, W.S.W.Ismail: Journal of Applied Physics, 2001, 89[5], 3064-6