Film thickness dependent microstructural changes of thick copper metallizations upon thermal fatigue

Stephan Bigl, Claus Othmar Wolfgang Trost, Stefan Wurster, Megan J. Cordill, Daniel Kiener

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

With increasing performance requirements in power electronics, the necessity has emerged to investigate the thermo-mechanical behavior of thick Cu metallizations (≥5 μm). Cu films on rigid substrates in the range of 5-20 μm were thermally cycled between 170 and 400 °C by a fast laser device. Compared to the initial microstructures, a texture transition toward the {100} out-of-plane orientation with increasing film thickness was observed during thermo-mechanical cycling, along with an abnormal grain growth in the {100}-oriented grains and a gradual development of substructures in a crystallographic arrangement. Compared to the well-studied thin Cu film counterparts (≤5 μm), the surface damage showed a 1/h f dependency. Transition from an orientation independent (h f = 5 μm) to an orientation specific thermo-mechanical fatigue damage (h f = 10, 20 μm) was observed following a higher damager tolerance in {100} oriented grains.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2022-2034
Number of pages13
JournalJournal of materials research (JMR)
Volume32.2017
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2017

Keywords

  • fatigue
  • texture
  • thermal stresses

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