Editing Electromigration (section)

== History ==
The phenomenon of electromigration has been known for over 100 years, having been discovered by the French scientist Gerardin.<ref>{{cite book|title= 2005 IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium, 2005. Proceedings. 43rd Annual|pages=iii–iv|doi=10.1109/RELPHY.2005.1493049|chapter= Preface|year=2005|isbn=978-0-7803-8803-1}}</ref> The topic first became of practical interest during the late 1960s when packaged ICs first appeared. The earliest commercially available ICs failed in a mere three weeks of use from runaway electromigration, which led to a major industry effort to correct this problem. The first observation of electromigration in thin films was made by I. Blech.<ref name="Blech" >I. Blech: ''Electromigration in Thin Aluminum Films on Titanium Nitride.'' Journal of Applied Physics, Vol 47, pp. 1203-1208, April 1976.</ref> Research in this field was pioneered by a number of investigators throughout the fledgling [[semiconductor]] industry. One of the most important engineering studies was performed by Jim Black of [[Motorola]], after whom [[Black's equation]] is named.<ref name="Black" >J.R. Black: ''Electromigration - A Brief Survey and Some Recent Results.'' IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, Vol. ED-16 (No. 4), pp. 338-347, April 1969.</ref> At the time, the metal [[Interconnects (integrated circuits)|interconnect]]s in ICs were still about 10 [[micrometre]]s wide. Currently interconnects are only hundreds to tens of [[nanometer]]s in width, making research in electromigration increasingly important.