Experimental realization of electromigration at high power for copper wires

Abstract

The electromigration phenomenon is a topical concern in all types of interconnects in power systems for both low and high voltages, low and large power ranges, for instance, in fabrication and manufacturing of Integrated Circuits, electronics of the power modules, power grid interconnects etc. Due to distributed generation units, in particular, renewable energy sources, which are commonly connected to already existing infrastructures, the considered issues related to the electromigration impact will result to a potential reduction of the electrical interconnection failure risks. Thus, the design of the integrated systems has to perform at highly efficient level with low probability of disconnections. The presented study considers the effect of the electromigration in terms of the spatial direction of the currents by observing directions of the sparks under certain arrangements of copper wires’ connections. The experimental setup has been developed in order to realize and observe the theoretical expectations. The experimental results were conducted at around 500 A, and the corresponding observations match theoretical expectations.