In Situ Time-dependent Dielectric Breakdown in the Transmission Electron Microscope: A Possibility to Understand the Failure Mechanism in Microelectronic DevicesZhongquan Liao 1,2, Martin Gall 1, Kong Boon Yeap 1,3, Christoph Sander 1, André Clausner 1, Uwe Mühle 1, Jürgen Gluch 1, Yvonne Standke 1, Oliver Aubel 4, Armand Beyer 4, Meike Hauschildt 4, Ehrenfried Zschech 1,2
1Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems, 2Dresden Center for Nanoanalysis, Technische Universität Dresden, 3Globalfoundries Fab 8, 4Globalfoundries Fab 1
The time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) in on-chip interconnect stacks is one of the most critical failure mechanisms for microelectronic devices. This paper demonstrates the procedure of an in situ TDDB experiment in the transmission electron microscope, which opens a possibility to study the failure mechanism in microelectronic products.