Tin in solder or some other meals can form spiky crystals when under stress. These whiskers can form short circuits if not properly insulated or not alloyed with other metals.
Check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot-carrier_injection hot carrier degredation, it’s in the vicinity of electron mobility but in a semiconductor setting. Key link is it’s electrons with momentum doing the work. In this case electrons (much hotter than in electron mobility, which are limited by the saturation velocity) smash into the gate dielectric, making it a worse dielectric. Hot carrier injection doesn’t have to end in damage to the dielectric, but when it does it’s hot carrier degredation. There’s a lot going on though, semiconductors are really complex - like electron tunneling also exists.
Electromigration in ICs typically occurs in metal interconnect, so there are no dopants there to move. Dopants are added to the silicon substrate.
This is like saying an SUV isn’t a car.
OP: Look at my car
Me: I have one too. It’s an SUV
You: SUV’s aren’t cars.
If you understand “car” as “hardware degradation” there is something to it, despite calling it “electromigration”.
You said it (= whiskers) can be simulated and that it’s called electromigration. From what I understood, this statement is wrong, since they are both different in both cause and effect. Metal whiskering can be simulated to a certain extent, yes. But that’s vastly different to what electromigration is and how it works.
You got a degree in semi conductor physics? Lol
Like i told the other guy, you’re being pedantic. Engineers will call all these things whiskers. And I just mentioned I deal with one of them in my work. I’m not saying the photo in the thumbnail is an example of electromigration.
