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6.1 SEMICONDUCTORS
We know from classical physics (the kinetic molecular theory and Boltzmann
distribution) that all the atoms in the crystal are executing vibrations with a
distribution of energies.
As the temperature increases, the distribution spreads to higher energies.
Statistically some of the atomic vibrations will be sufficiently energetic to
rupture a bond as indicated in Figure 12 a.
This releases and electron from the bond which is free to wander inside the
crystal. The free electron can drift in the presence of an applied field; it is called
a conduction electron.
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Figure 12
(a) Thermal vibrations of the atoms rupture a bond and release a free electron into the
crystal. A hole is left in the broken bond which has an effective positive charge.
(b) An electron in a neighboring bond can jump and repair this bond and thereby create a
hole in its original site; the hole has been displaced.
(c) When a field is applied both holes and electrons contribute to electrical conduction.
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= eph + ene
Even though carrier drift mobilities in most semiconductors are higher than
electron drift mobilities in metals, semiconductors have much lower
conductivities due to their lower concentration of free charge carriers.
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[4]
= 0 exp
E
kT
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I2
I1
Figure 15 Illustration of the skin effect. A hypothetical cut
produces a hallow outer cylinder and a solid inner cylinder.
Cut is placed where it would give equal current in each
section. The two sections are in parallel so that the currents
in (b) and (c) sum to that in (a).
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1
1
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A = a2 (a )2 2a
Where 2 is neglected ( a). The ac resistance rac of the conductor per unit
length is.
rac =
A 2a
Where is the ac resistivity at the frequency of interest, which for all practical
purposes is equal to the dc resistivity of the metal.
As increases, decreases, by virtue of -1/2 and, as a result, rac increases.
The skin effect arises because the magnetic field of the ac current in the
conductor restricts the current flow to the surface region within a depth of <
a.
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l = lcrystal + lgrains = +
The resistivity is inversely proportional to the mean free path which means that
the resistivity of the bulk single crystal crystal 1/ and the resistivity of the
polycrystalline sample 1/l. Thus,
=
1
+
With a smaller grain diameter d
crystal
R
= 1R
For copper, typical R values are 0.24 to 0.40, and R is somewhat smaller for Al.
Assume that the scattering from the surface is inelastic; that is, the electron
loses the grained velocity from the field.
The direction of the electron after the scattering process is independent of the
direction before the scattering process. This type of scattering is called
nonspecular.
The mean free path lsurf of the electron will depend on its direction right after
the scattering.
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=1+
l
D
The resistivity of the bulk crystal is bulk 1/, and the resistivity of the film is
1/l. Thus
1
=
1
+
bulk
D
bulk
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3
1 + 8D(1 P)
D
> 0.3
[5]
scattering in thin poly crystalline films; the contribution from grain boundary
scattering is likely to exceed that from the surfaces. In any event, both
contributions, by Matthiessems general rule, increase the overall resistivity.
In this case, annealing (heat treating) the films to reduce the polycrystallinity
does not significantly affect the resistivity because film is controlled primarily
by surface scattering and is given by Equation [5].
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Figure 20
(a) film of the Cu polycrystalline films vs. reciprocal mean grain size (diameter), 1/d. Film
thickness D = 250 nm - 900 nm does not affect the resistivity. The straight line is film = 17.8
n m + (595 n m nm)(1/d),
(b) film of the Cu thin polycrystalline films vs. film thickness D. In this case, annealing (heat
treating) the films to reduce the polycrystallinity does not significantly affect the resistivity
because film is controlled mainly by surface scattering.
|SOURCE: Data extracted from (a) S. Riedel et al, Microelec. Engin. 33, 165, 1997 and (b). W. Lim et al,
Appl. Surf. Sci., 217, 95, 2003)
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9. INTERCONNECTS IN MICROELECTRONICS
Aluminum and Al alloys, or Al silicides, have been the workhouse of the
interconnects, but todays fast chips rely on copper interconnects.
First, copper has a resistivity that is about 40 percent lower than that of Al.
High-transistor-density chips in which various voltages are switched on and off
limits the speed of operation is the RC time constant.
The time constant that is involved in charging and discharging the capacitance
between the interconnects.
Input capacitance of the transistor; usually the former dominates. (advantages)
The RC is substantially reduced with Cu replacing Al so that the chip speed
is faster.
The second advantage is that a lower overall interconnect resistance leads
to a lower power consumption, lower I2R.
The third advantage is that copper has superior resistance to electromigration, a process in which metal atoms are forced to migrate by a large
current density. Such electro-migration can eventually lead to a failure of
the interconnect.
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