Effect of Microstructure on Alternating Current-induced Damage in Cu Lines

The effect of microstructure on alternating current-induced damage in 200 and 300 nm thick polycrystalline sputtered Cu lines on Si substrates has been investigated. Alternating currents were used to generate temperature cycles (with ranges from 100 to $300^{\circ}C$) and thermal strains (with ranges from 0.14 to $0.42\%$) in the Cu lines at a frequency of 10 kHz. Fatigue loading caused the development of severe surface roughness that was localized within individual grains which depends severely on grain orientations.