Since overall circuit performance has depended primarily on transistor properties previous
efforts to enhance circuit and system speed were focused on transistors as well. During the
last decade however the parasitic resistance capacitance and inductance associated with
interconnections began to influence circuit performance and will be the primary factors in the
evolution of nanoscale ULSI technology. Because metallic conductivity and resistance to
electromigration of bulk copper (Cu) are better than aluminum use of copper and low-k
materials is now prevalent in the international microelectronics industry. As the feature size
of the Cu-lines forming interconnects is scaled resistivity of the lines increases. At the
same time electromigration and stress-induced voids due to increased current density become
significant reliability issues. Although copper low-k technology has become fairly mature
there is no single book available on the promise and challenges of these next-generation
technologies. In this book a leader in the field describes advanced laser systems with lower
radiation wavelengths photolithography materials and mathematical modeling approaches to
address the challenges of Cu-interconnect technology.
