A strong correlation between electromigration damage and microstructure was reported for film samples. It was found that changes in the microstructure led to qualitative deviations from the usual electromigration damage progress: from open circuits due to void growth across the line, to damage growing along the line and not leading to failure. Some of the findings were consistent with a theoretical model which was based upon the interplay of surface diffusion and grain-boundary diffusion. An activation energy of 0.95eV, for electromigration mass transport, was estimated by using a modified electrical resistance method.

Effect of Microstructure on Electromigration Kinetics in Cu Lines A.Gladkikh, M.Karpovski, A.Palevski, J.S.Kaganovskii: Journal of Physics D, 1998, 31[14], 1626-9