Improvements of mechanical fatigue reliability of Cu interconnects on flexible substrates through MoTi alloy under-layer

The mechanical fatigue of Cu films and lines on flexible substrates was investigated, and an improvement in the structures through the use of a MoTi alloy under-layer was proposed. Fatigue reliability was decreased by 3-fold in lines compared with films in the tensile condition and by 6-fold in the compressive condition. Crack formation was observed to be more detrimental for lines than for films. With a MoTi under-layer, the fatigue limit was increased by 2 times that of a structure without MoTi in the tensile condition and by 15 times in the compressive bending condition. The suppression of delamination through the use of a MoTi under-layer improved the fatigue reliability under compressive bending.