Observation of rapid field aided diffusion of silver in metal-oxide-semiconductor structures

Fast electric field aided diffusion of silver in SiO2 has been observed for fields of 104 V/cm and temperatures as low as 275 °C. The diffusion coefficient of silver in SiO2 is estimated to be 10−13 cm2/s at 300 °C, with an activation energy of 1.24 eV. The consequences of Ag contamination in very large scale integrated metallization systems are discussed.