Intrinsic Elastic, Dielectric, and Piezoelectric Losses in Lead Zirconate Titanate Ceramics Determined by an Immittance-Fitting Method

The material coefficients of "soft" and "hard" lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramics were determined as complex values by the nonlinear least-squares-fitting of immittance data measured for length-extensional bar resonators. The piezoelectric d -constant should be a complex value to obtain a best fitting between observed and calculated results. Because the elastic, dielectric, and piezoelectric losses determined in this process were not "intrinsic" losses, a calculation process to evaluate the "intrinsic" losses was proposed. It was confirmed that the intrinsic losses were smaller than the corresponding extrinsic losses. The intrinsic piezoelectric loss existed in both soft and hard PZTs; ∼50% of the loss of piezoelectric d -constant was derived from the elastic and dielectric losses. The most notable difference between the soft and hard PZTs was observed in their elastic losses.     

Polycrystalline Si1-x Ge x thin film deposition by rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition

Polycrystalline silicon germanium (poly-Si_1−xGe_x) thin films on a-Si film have been deposited by rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition (RTCVD) with SiH₄–GeH₄–H₂. Effect of GeH₄/SiH₄ and deposition temperature on stoichiometry (x), Si-Ge binding character, composition, hydrogen configuration, crystallinity, preferred orientation, grain size, and surface roughness of poly-Si_1−xGe_x films has been investigated. Poly-Si_1−xGe_x deposited on the substrate with amorphous silicon buffer layer on oxide shows better crystallinity and contains the less amount of oxygen than the one deposited directly on the oxide surface. At low temperature region, the Ge–H bond with the small amount of Si–H₂ bond is dominant but all hydrogen bonds are desorbed at high temperature. All films have polycrystalline phase and the grain size and (111) orientation increased with increasing deposition temperature in which Ge content also increases at the fixed gas flow rate of GeH₄ to total source gas. Poly-Si_1−xGe_x/Si thin film transistors (TFT) are fabricated and hydrogen during post-hydrogenation process preferentially is attached to Ge dangling bond and the TFT characteristics could be improved.     

Modeling for multilevel switching in oxide-based bipolar resistive memory

We report a physical model for multilevel switching in oxide-based bipolar resistive memory (ReRAM). To confirm the validity of the model, we conduct experiments with tantalum-oxide-based ReRAM of which multi-resistance levels are obtained by reset voltage modifications. It is also noticeable that, in addition to multilevel switching capability, the ReRAM exhibits extremely different switching timescales, i.e. of the order of 10(-7)?s to 10(0)?s, with regard to reset voltages of only a few volts difference which can be well explained by our model. It is demonstrated that with this simple model, multilevel switching behavior in oxide bipolar ReRAM can be described not only qualitatively but also quantitatively.     

Design and implementation of multicasting for multi-channel multi-interface wireless mesh networks

Multicasting is a useful communication method in wireless mesh networks (WMNs). Many applications in WMNs require efficient and reliable multicast communications, i.e., high delivery ratio with low overhead among a group of recipients. In spite of its significance, little work has been done on providing such multicast service in multi-channel WMNs. Traditional multicast protocols for wireless and multi-hop networks tend to assume that all nodes, each of which is equipped with a single interface, collaborate on the same channel. This single-channel assumption is not always true, as WMNs often provide nodes with multiple interfaces to enhance performance. In multi-channel and multi-interface (MCMI) WMNs, the same multicast data must be sent multiple times by a sender node if its neighboring nodes operate on different channels. In this paper, we try to tackle the challenging issue of how to design a multicast protocol more suitable for MCMI WMNs. Our multicast protocol builds multicast paths while inviting multicast members, and tries to allocate the same channel to neighboring members in a bottom-up manner. By unifying fixed channels of one-hop multicast neighbors, the proposed algorithm can improve the performance such as reducing multicast data transmission overhead and delay, while managing a successful delivery ratio. In order to prove such expectation on the performance, we have implemented and evaluated the proposed solution on the real testbed having the maximum 24 nodes, each of which is equipped with two IEEE 802.11a Atheros WLAN cards.     

Microstructure evolution in Cu pillar/eutectic SnPb solder system during isothermal annealing

The reaction between Cu pillar and eutectic SnPb solder during isothermal annealing was studied systematically. Intermetallic compounds (IMCs), such as Cu₆Sn₅ and Cu₃Sn, were formed in between Cu and SnThe parabolic rate law was observed on IMC formation, which indicated that the growth of IMCs was controlled by atomic diffusion (a diffusion-limited process). Annealing at 165 °C for 160 h decreased the growth rate of Cu₆Sn₅, and at the same time increased the growth rate of Cu₃Sn. This was when Sn in solder was exhausted completely. The activation energies for the growth of Cu₃Sn and Cu₆Sn₅ were measured to be 1.77 eV and 0.72 eV, respectively. The Kirkendall void that formed at the interface between Cu pillar and solder obeyed the parabolic rate law. The growth rate of the Kirkendall void increased when the Sn in solder was consumed in its entirety.     

Effect of Wet Pretreatment on Interfacial Adhesion Energy of Cu-Cu Thermocompression Bond for 3D IC Packages

Quantitative analysis of the interfacial adhesion energy of Cu-Cu thermocompression bonds was performed using the four-point bending method with various wet pretreatment conditions. The evaluated interfacial adhesion energies for 1-μm-thick Cu bonding layers were 0.29 J/m², 1.28 J/m², 1.64 J/m², 1.17 J/m², and 0.43 J/m² for different acetic acid pretreatment times of 0 min, 1 min, 5 min, 10 min, and 15 min, respectively. There exists an optimum wet etch time for maximum adhesion strength. The change of surface properties with increasing wet etch time was believed to result in the variation of the interfacial adhesion energy. The decrease in interfacial adhesion energy after 5 min seems to result from a decrease in the plastic dissipation energy during interfacial crack propagation with thinner Cu film thickness caused by overetching.     

Analysis of the reservoir effect on electromigration reliability

The reservoir effect on electromigration reliability is analyzed using the normalized vacancy concentration distribution in the reservoir region of multi-level Al–0.5%Cu interconnect structure. With the assumption of steady state for the vacancy concentration and the fact that no current flow conducts in the reservoir region during electromigration test, a simple equation for calculation of the vacancy concentration is induced. Then direct calculation of the equation is carried out utilizing the hydrostatic stress distribution computed from finite element method to estimate the probability of initial void formation in the reservoir region. Finally, three multi-level Al–0.5%Cu interconnect structures with different reservoir lengths are constructed and electromigration lifetime for the structures is measured to clarify these computational results. From the results of this study, we conclude that the normalized vacancy concentration under the assumption of steady state can be regarded as a quantitative parameter to analyze the reservoir effect on electromigration reliability.     

Efficient geocasting with multi-target regions in mobile multi-hop wireless networks

Geocasting, a variation on the notion of multicasting, is a mechanism to deliver messages of interest to all nodes within a certain geographical target region. Although several geocasting protocols have already been proposed for multi-hop wireless networks, most of these algorithms consider a “single” target region only. Here, when more than one target regions need to receive the same geocast messages, multiple transmissions need to be initiated separately by the message source. This causes significant performance degradation due to redundant packet transmissions, and it becomes more severe as the number of target regions increase. To solve this problem, we propose a basic scheme and its variations which utilize the geometric concept of “Fermat point” to determine the optimal junction point among multiple geocast regions from the source node. Our simulation study using ns-2 shows that the proposed schemes can effectively reduce the overhead of message delivery while maintaining a high delivery ratio in mobile multi-hop wireless networks.     

Intermetallic Compound Growth and Reliability of Cu Pillar Bumps Under Current Stressing

Fine-pitch Cu pillar bumps have been adopted for flip-chip bonding technology. Intermetallic compound (IMC) growth in Cu pillar bumps was investigated as a function of annealing or current stressing by in situ observation. The effect of IMC growth on the mechanical reliability of the Cu pillar bumps was also investigated. It is noteworthy that Sn exhaustion was observed after 240 h of annealing when current stressing was not applied, and IMC growth rates were changed remarkably. As the applied current densities increased, the time required for complete Sn consumption became shorter. In addition, Kirkendall voids, which would be detrimental to the mechanical reliability of Cu pillar bumps, were observed in both Cu₃Sn/Cu pillars and Cu₃Sn/Cu under-bump metallization interfaces. Die shear force was measured for Cu pillar samples prepared with various annealing times, and degradation of mechanical strength was observed.     

Electrochemical Migration Characteristics of Eutectic Sn-Pb Solder Alloy in NaCl and Na<Subscript>2</Subscript>SO<Subscript>4</Subscript> Solutions

Anodic dissolution and the electrochemical migration characteristics of eutectic Sn-Pb solder alloy in deaerated 0.001% NaCl and Na₂SO₄ solutions were investigated using anodic polarization and water drop tests. Anodic polarization results revealed that a Pb-rich phase was preferentially ionized in deaerated 0.001% NaCl solution and an Sn-rich phase was predominantly ionized in deaerated 0.001% Na₂SO₄ solution, which coincides well with the composition of the dendrites formed during water drop tests. X-ray diffraction and photoelectron spectroscopy results showed that the surface oxide film formed on pure Sn in deaerated 0.001% NaCl solution is more stable than that formed on pure Sn in deaerated 0.001% Na₂SO₄ solution. The surface oxide film formed on pure Pb in deaerated 0.001% Na₂SO₄ solution is more stable than that formed on pure Sn in deaerated 0.001% NaCl solution. Therefore, the quality of the surface film of eutectic Sn-Pb solder in a chemical environment seems to be critical not only for corrosion resistance, but also for electrochemical migration resistance.