Connecting the phase-field-crystal model of electromigration with electronic and continuum theories

Electromigration (EM) is the motion of lattice atoms under high-density electric current. It is an important mechanism for structural changes in nanoelectronic devices and a major contributor to the electroplastic effect in structural metals. Recently, a phase-field-crystal (PFC) model for studying EM in metals was developed and shown to successfully capture many important EM-driven structural evolutions at experimentally relevant timescales. …