| 摘要 |
A scanning magnetic microscope (SMM) ( 20 ) includes a current source ( 27 ) for imposing an excitation current to a conductor-under-test (CUT) ( 70 ) and, if applicable, a reference current to a proximally located reference conductor ( 72 ). During accelerated testing, the SMM ( 20 ) corrects thermal drift of the CUT ( 70 ) via the reference conductor ( 72 ). A sensor ( 21 ) may be cooled by a heat sink ( 31 ) such as a pump ( 33 ) directing an airstream or a coldfinger ( 80 ). The sensor may switch from a contact to a non-contact mode of scanning the CUT ( 70 ). The SMM ( 20 ) and methods are useful for measuring electromigration in a CUT ( 70 ) as it occurs, for assembling the images into time lapsed representations such as a shape of the CUT ( 70 ), for measuring electromigration as a function of a cross sectional area of a wire under a dielectric material (DM) ( 78 ), for determining electrical parameters of the CUT ( 70 ), and for optimizing a thickness of a DM ( 78 ) over a CUT ( 70 ). The SMM ( 20 ) and methods are further useful for measuring morphological changes in a CUT ( 70 ) due to other stressing conditions, such as temperature, excitation current, physical stress(es), hostile environment, aging, semiconductor "burn-in", or irradiation. |
