Electromigration-induced failures were investigated in single layered Permalloy thin films. The time-to-failure and median time-to-failure of the films were found to be strongly dependent upon the applied current density, the film thickness and the ambient temperature. The activation energy for the films, as derived from the Black equation, was found to be equal to 0.8eV. The median time-to-failure, and standard deviation, of a thin-film electromigration test stripe (10nm-thick, 5µm-width, 20µm-long) were equal to 3.74 and 1.74h, respectively, at 160C. Typical electromigration failures, such as voids and cracks, were observed in the cathode regions or centres of the test stripes.

S.Bae, J.H.Judy, I.F.Tsu, E.S.Murdock: Journal of Applied Physics, 2001, 90[5], 2427-32