Re: What is the purpose of the experiment ...? - Leisure7

Propeller Head Plaza

Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics.

Re: What is the purpose of the experiment ...?

Posted by Leisure7 (A) on June 30, 2003 at 20:41:36

In Reply to: What is the purpose of the experiment ...? posted by 13th Duke of Wymbourne on June 30, 2003 at 12:29:51:

13DoW, I only have the Physics Today magazine, and they only mention the Applied Physics Letters article in a brief paragraph along with the photo. The purpose of the PT listing is to let people know of this new measurement technique, and it does not give the purpose of the work that would be described in the APL article. Since the picture is of a metal stripe undergoing an electromigration stress test, I surmise that is the reason for the original work.

I brought it up here for anyone with access to either journal because the nonuniformity of current flow is striking, and suggests the behavior of metal conductors is much more dependent on the details of the microstructure, and less easily modeled by lumped elements, than we typically assume.

No one should worry about electromigration in analog ICs designed and built by a competent vendor. However, even with tight process control methods, there are still within-wafer and within-batch variations in integrated circuit processes. If these affect the microstructure of the metal, it is conceivable there would be sonic differences between two chips with the same parent batch, and I hoped someone here would share their experiences.

Mid-fi CD players have op-amp output stages, and can be heavily loaded with long ICs with fairly high capacitance. This property of the metal on the chips could add to variation experienced by people using such gear. Otherwise, the photo is just an interesting view of the situation.

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Image of current in thin-film wire in Physics Today - Leisure7 15:41:37 06/29/03 (10)

Re: Image of current in thin-film wire in Physics Today - slope 22:29:29 07/01/03 (0)

I thought Intel was going to start copper conductor traces in VLSI - kurt s 18:31:10 06/29/03 (8)

Re: I thought Intel was going to start copper conductor traces in VLSI - Dan Banquer 05:51:20 06/30/03 (5)

Exactly. The name of the game is process control. - Leisure7 11:34:46 06/30/03 (4)

Re: Exactly. The name of the game is process control. - Dan Banquer 13:33:25 06/30/03 (0)

What is the purpose of the experiment ...? - 13th Duke of Wymbourne 12:29:51 06/30/03 (2)

Re: What is the purpose of the experiment ...? - Leisure7 20:41:36 06/30/03 (1)

Re: What is the purpose of the experiment ...? - Dan Banquer 03:21:21 07/01/03 (0)

Yes, but... - Leisure7 21:33:44 06/29/03 (1)

Re: Yes, but... - david hull 08:39:54 06/30/03 (0)

Follow Ups

Re: What is the purpose of the experiment ...? - Leisure7 20:41:36 06/30/03 (1)

Re: What is the purpose of the experiment ...? - Dan Banquer 03:21:21 07/01/03 (0)

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