Study of conductive gold film lifetime under high current densities

Abstract
The lifetimes of gold films were measured at electrical current densities of (0.8−1.15) ×106 A/cm2 and temperatures of 220−500 °C. The effective activation energy was found to be 0.42 eV. Electromigration caused the formation of voids, hillocks, and whiskers. All films failed near the cathode, suggesting that gold atoms migrate in the direction of electron flow. The film lifetime is governed both by the temperature gradients and local structural changes. An approximate equation which takes into account these effects was derived to evaluate the film lifetimes.

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