Electromigration of Metals on the Silicon Surface

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9223764 Nogami Fundamental aspects of surface electromigration(SE) of metals on silicon will be studied using hot scanning tunneling microscopy(STM). The instrumentation used and experimental approach followed will allow atomic level resolution and identification of fundamental forces involved in the electromigration process. Another part of the research is to understand the effects of surface electromigration on overlayer growth, and to explore the possibility of using electromigration to control crystal growth. %%% This research is expected to provide fundamental new information about semiconductor materials which are widely used for VLSI technology. State-of-the-art surface instrumentation and methods are expected to reveal atomic scale features of surface electromigration, a phenomena thought to be related to failure of integrated circuit metal interconnect lines. The materials under study have wide applicability in electronic and optoelectronic devices, and a greater understanding of electromigration is expected to improve the performance of devices and circuits made from these materials, and may lead to improvements in the performance of integrated circuits used in computing, information processing, and telecommunications. ***