This book focuses on recent work in on-chip interconnects and other aspects of advanced metallization. In particular, the concentration for this year's volume is on the rapid advances in copper and low-K. The volume is divided into nine parts: Part I contains an invited perspective on the state of semiconductor research and development in Japan; Part II focuses on performance aspects of interconnect architectures; Part III includes some of the most significant recent advances in copper/low-K integration; Part IV is an in-depth collection of electrochemical and chemical processes, mainly pertaining to copper; Part V contains state-of-the-art papers on thin-film diffusion barriers, again mainly for copper wiring; Part VI covers reliability engineering and results; Part VII is a collection of alternative and novel processes and systems related to circuit interconnection; Part VIII contains papers on specific low-K dielectrics and their properties, and new methods for their characterizatio
