In situ transmission electron microscopy investigations of electromigration in metals

Electromigration is a process in which a metallic contact line is thinned by passing a current through it; which occurs due to a gradual displacement of atoms, ultimately leading to destruction of the wire. Despite the active investigations on electromigration for over fifty years, until now there is no general theory of the process and many...

The use of STEM imaging to analyze thickness variations due to electromigration-induced mass transport in thin polycrystalline nanobridges

Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) imaging is applied to analyze the electromigration-induced thickness variations of thin polycrystalline films, It is shown that a high angle annular dark field (HAADF) detector is required to minimize the effect of diffraction contact. A further reduction of the diffraction contrast can be...