Browsing by Subject "Scaling"
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Item A lattice model for gas production from hydrofractured shale(2016-12) Eftekhari, Behzad; Patzek, Tadeusz W.; Marder, Michael P., 1960-; Olson, Jon E; Sepehrnoori, Kamy; Espinoza, David NNatural gas production from US shale and tight oil plays has increased over the past 10 years, currently constitutes more than half of the total US dry natural gas production, and is projected to provide the US with a major energy source in the next several decades. The increase in shale gas production is driven by advances in hydraulic fracturing. Recent studies have shown that gas production from hydraulically fractured shales has to come from a network of connected hydraulic and natural fractures, and that if one takes the shale permeability to be 10 nD, then the characteristic spacing of the fracture network will be about 1.5 − 3 m. The precise nature of the characteristic spacing, as well as other production and formation properties of the fracture network, are questions which motivated the present dissertation. This dissertation studies (1) the topology of the fracture network, (2) the mechanics of how the fracture network evolves in time during injection and (3) how fracture network geometry affects production. We use percolation theory to study fracture network topology. Fracture are placed on the bonds of a two–dimensional square lattice and follow a power law length distribution. We analytically obtain the scaling of connectivity for power law fracture networks, and numerically compute the percolation threshold as a function of the exponent. We develop a hydrofracture model which makes it possible to simulate initiation and propagation of hydraulic fractures, as well as the interaction between hydraulic and natural fractures. The model uses the Reynolds lubrication approximation to describe fluid flow through the fractures and relies on analytical estimates to predict the stress response. We develop a diffusion model to compute gas production from hydraulically fractured shales. The model uses a random walk algorithm and takes the fracture network as the absorbing boundary to the gas transport equation. We show that scaling the cumulative production versus time data from the diffusion model with respect to characteristic scales of production maps the production versus time plots onto a single scaling curve. Using the model, we identify, or define, characteristic spacing for fracture networks.Item A reverse osmosis treatment process for produced water: optimization, process control, and renewable energy application(2009-06-02) Mareth, BrettFresh water resources in many of the world's oil producing regions, such as western Texas, are scarce, while produced water from oil wells is plentiful, though unfit for most applications due to high salinity and other contamination. Disposing of this water is a great expense to oil producers. This research seeks to advance a technology developed to treat produced water by reverse osmosis and other means to render it suitable for agricultural or industrial use, while simultaneously reducing disposal costs. Pilot testing of the process thus far has demonstrated the technology's capability to produce good-quality water, but process optimization and control were yet to be fully addressed and are focuses of this work. Also, the use of renewable resources (wind and solar) are analyzed as potential power sources for the process, and an overview of reverse osmosis membrane fouling is presented. A computer model of the process was created using a dynamic simulator, Aspen Dynamics, to determine energy consumption of various process design alternatives, and to test control strategies. By preserving the mechanical energy of the concentrate stream of the reverse osmosis membrane, process energy requirements can be reduced several fold from that of the current configuration. Process control schemes utilizing basic feedback control methods with proportional-integral (PI) controllers are proposed, with the feasibility of the strategy for the most complex process design verified by successful dynamic simulation. A macro-driven spreadsheet was created to allow for quick and easy cost comparisons of renewable energy sources in a variety of locations. Using this tool, wind and solar costs were compared for cities in regions throughout Texas. The renewable energy resource showing the greatest potential was wind power, with the analysis showing that in windy regions such as the Texas Panhandle, wind-generated power costs are approximately equal to those generated with diesel fuel.Item Effects of scaling on microstructure evolution of Cu nanolines and impact on electromigration reliability(2014-12) Cao, Linjun; Ho, P. S.; Im, Jang-Hi; Huang, Rui; Ferreira, Paulo J; Rabenberg, Llewellyn K; Gall, MartinScaling can significantly degrade the electromigration (EM) lifetime for Cu interconnects, raising serious reliability concerns. Different methods have emerged to enhance the EM resistance of Cu by suppressing the interface diffusion (the historically fastest diffusion path), notably using CoWP metal cap and Mn alloying. With further scaling of Cu interconnects, EM reliability becomes increasingly complex due to changes in Cu microstructure. In ultra-fine Cu lines a large population of small grains mix with bamboo-type grains, resulting in an additional contribution of grain boundary diffusion to EM degradation. With the interface diffusion suppressed by CoWP or Mn alloying, the grain structure effect becomes even more important. The objective of this study is to investigate the EM reliability of ultra-fine Cu interconnects, focusing on the scaling effect on grain structure and mass transport. First, the detailed microstructure information of Cu interconnects down to the 22 nm node was analyzed using a transmission electron microscope (TEM)-based high resolution diffraction technique. A dominant sidewall growth of {111} grains was observed for 70 nm Cu lines (45 nm node), reflecting the importance of interfacial energy in controlling grain growth. The strength of the {111} texture was found to significantly increase as line width was reduced to 40 nm (22 nm node), while the length fraction of coherent twin boundaries was reduced to ~1%. Secondly, the results from microstructure together with the deduced interfacial and grain boundary diffusivities were used to identify flux divergent sites for void formation and to analyze the grain structure effect on EM statistics using a microstructure-based kinetic model. Finally, based on the analysis of Cu grain structure evolution with downscaling, the scaling behavior of EM drift velocity was investigated for Cu interconnects with CoWP capping and Mn alloying. This enables us to project the EM lifetime and statistics for future technology nodes. The Mn alloying effect on mass transport in combination of grain structure control was found to provide an effective means to improve EM reliability especially with further scaling. In summary, this study establishes a correlation between the microstructure of Cu nanolines, void formation kinetics, and EM statistics.Item Effects of scaling on microstructure evolution of Cu nanolines and impact on electromigration reliability(2014-12) Cao, Linjun; Ho, P. S.; Im, Jang-Hi; Huang, Rui; Ferreira, Paulo J; Rabenberg, Llewellyn K; Gall, MartinScaling can significantly degrade the electromigration (EM) lifetime for Cu interconnects, raising serious reliability concerns. Different methods have emerged to enhance the EM resistance of Cu by suppressing the interface diffusion (the historically fastest diffusion path), notably using CoWP metal cap and Mn alloying. With further scaling of Cu interconnects, EM reliability becomes increasingly complex due to changes in Cu microstructure. In ultra-fine Cu lines a large population of small grains mix with bamboo-type grains, resulting in an additional contribution of grain boundary diffusion to EM degradation. With the interface diffusion suppressed by CoWP or Mn alloying, the grain structure effect becomes even more important. The objective of this study is to investigate the EM reliability of ultra-fine Cu interconnects, focusing on the scaling effect on grain structure and mass transport. First, the detailed microstructure information of Cu interconnects down to the 22 nm node was analyzed using a transmission electron microscope (TEM)-based high resolution diffraction technique. A dominant sidewall growth of {111} grains was observed for 70 nm Cu lines (45 nm node), reflecting the importance of interfacial energy in controlling grain growth. The strength of the {111} texture was found to significantly increase as line width was reduced to 40 nm (22 nm node), while the length fraction of coherent twin boundaries was reduced to ~1%. Secondly, the results from microstructure together with the deduced interfacial and grain boundary diffusivities were used to identify flux divergent sites for void formation and to analyze the grain structure effect on EM statistics using a microstructure-based kinetic model. Finally, based on the analysis of Cu grain structure evolution with downscaling, the scaling behavior of EM drift velocity was investigated for Cu interconnects with CoWP capping and Mn alloying. This enables us to project the EM lifetime and statistics for future technology nodes. The Mn alloying effect on mass transport in combination of grain structure control was found to provide an effective means to improve EM reliability especially with further scaling. In summary, this study establishes a correlation between the microstructure of Cu nanolines, void formation kinetics, and EM statistics.Item Enhanced oil recovery in fractured vuggy carbonates(2014-05) Chen, Peila; Mohanty, Kishore Kumar; Pope, Gary A.; Balhoff, Matthew T.; Delshad, Mojdeh; Arbogast, Todd J.Naturally fractured carbonates contribute substantially to global oil reserves. Waterflood and gas-oil gravity drainage (GOGD) recover oil from the fractured oil-wet carbonates, with limited success due to poor sweep and very low recovery factors. Surfactant flooding has shown a great potential to enhance oil recovery in the oil-wet carbonates by reducing interfacial tension and/or altering wettability. Carbonates are characterized by the wide pore-size distributions. Surfactant EOR cannot be successfully implemented in a fractured, oil-wet, carbonate reservoir unless the reservoir is fully characterized and all of the mechanisms involved in oil recovery are fully understood. NMR T₂ measurement, mercury injection capillary pressure test (MICP), thin-section imaging, and computerized tomography (CT) scanning were conducted in the characterization of vuggy dolomite cores from the field. Both thin section and CT images reveal that the touching vugs and separate vugs co-exist in the core samples. Although the vuggy porosity is estimated to be 85%, the matrix controls the permeability of the core because of poor vug connectivity. MICP and NMR T₂ measurements show multimodal pore-throat and pore-body size distributions. Reconstructed 3D CT porosity maps indicate that the vugs in the field dolomite are large and randomly distributed, while the vugs in the Silurian dolomite are small and densely populated. A single-phase tracer test performed under CT scanner reveals a large porosity variation and the preferential flow paths within the field dolomite core. The mercury withdrawal test and NMR T₂ measurement have indicated that snap-off retains oil in the vugs due to the large aspect ratio pores and the large length-scale of the oil blobs. The imbibition oil recovery from the initially oil-wet field dolomite core is 20% lower (in OOIP) than that from the Silurian dolomite core, mainly because of an unfavorable pore structure in the field dolomite core. A few surfactants were selected as promising candidates for wettability alteration because they possess aqueous stability in hard brine at elevated temperatures and reduce contact angles. The divalent cations in the hard brine significantly suppress the anionic surfactant-mediated wettability alteration. The removal of Ca²⁺, and then Mg²⁺ from the hard brine progressively promotes anionic surfactant-assisted wettability alteration, evidenced by decreasing contact angles. The addition of sufficient amount of divalent ion scavengers, including chelating agents (e.g. EDTA.4Na) and scale inhibitors (e.g. Sodium Polyacrylate) in the hard brine, rescues the anionic surfactant-mediated wettability alteration. We propose that the scavenger reduces the concentration of free divalent cations, and promotes the release of the surfactant monomers, which favors wettability alteration through the surfactant adsorption mechanism. The scavenger- triggered mineral dissolution only weakly contributes to the imbibition oil recovery. Experiments and simulation studies consistently showed the synergy between wettability alteration and IFT reduction in a surfactant-assisted gravity-driven process. The residual oil saturation after gravity drainage is approximately 10~20% higher than that by gravity-driven imbibition if the two processes have the same trapping number N[subscript T], which implies that wettability alteration contributes to oil recovery from the oil-wet carbonates. A critical capillary number was found in the capillary desaturation curve plotted for the spontaneous imbibition tests, not for gravity drainage tests. In a UTCHEM model, wettability alteration is represented by the changes in P[subscript c], k[subscript r] and CDC. The simulation successfully history-matched and also predicted the incremental oil recovery by the surfactant formulations. The sensitivity study carried out in UTCHEM simulation shows the strong effects of fluid density, capillary pressure and vuggy pore structures on oil recovery. Three current available oil recovery prediction models (Hagoort, 1980; Aronofsky, 1958; Gupta and Civan, 1994) were tested against imbibition experiments. Two new analytical models were developed in this work, which significantly improved the quality of matching with experimental oil recovery. The matrix-fracture transfer functions, derived from the analytical oil recovery models, can be implemented in a dual-porosity simulator, providing more accurate numerical simulations of oil production in the fractured reservoirs. Lastly, we investigated the feasibility of using single well tracer test (SWTT) in the fractured reservoirs to determine the ROS or connate water saturation. The fractures studied are mainly small-scale fractures. The effects of fracture and its orientation on SWTTs were studied in four Berea cores with a single fracture in each core, orientated as 90°, 60°, 30°, and 0° against dominant flow direction. A simple Cartesian grid without dual porosity in UTCHEM simulator is adequate to interpret the experimental data. A synthetic field-scale SWTT is not sensitive to the presence of moderate degrees of small-scale fractures. The sensitivity study of fluid drift, representing flow irreversibility in a fractured reservoir, reveals the existence of a critical drift velocity, below which the tracer breakthrough curves (BTCs) are interpretable.Item An experimental and simulation study of the effect of geochemical reactions on chemical flooding(2010-12) Chandrasekar, Vikram, 1984-; Delshad, Mojdeh; Pope, Gary A.The overall objective of this research was to gain an insight into the challenges encountered during chemical flooding under high hardness conditions. Different aspects of this problem were studied using a combination of laboratory experiments and simulation studies. Chemical Flooding is an important Enhanced Oil Recovery process. One of the major components of the operational expenses of any chemical flooding project, especially Alkali Surfactant Polymer (ASP) flooding is the cost of softening the injection brine to prevent the precipitation of the carbonates of the calcium and magnesium ions which are invariably present in the formation brine. Novel hardness tolerant alkalis like sodium metaborate have been shown to perform well with brines of high salinity and hardness, thereby eliminating the need to soften the injection brine. The first part of this research was aimed at designing an optimal chemical flooding formulation for a reservoir having hard formation brine. Sodium metaborate was used as the alkali in the formulation with the hard brine. Under the experimental conditions, sodium metaborate was found to be inadequate in preventing precipitation in the ASP slug. Factors affecting the ability of sodium metaborate to sequester divalent ions, including its potential limitations under the experimental conditions were studied. The second part of this research studied the factors affecting the ability of novel alkali and chelating agents like sodium metaborate and tetrasodium EDTA to sequester divalent ions. Recent studies have shown that both these chemicals showed good performance in sequestering divalent ions under high hardness conditions. A study of the geochemical species in solution under different conditions was done using the computer program PHREEQC. Sensitivity studies about the effect of the presence of different solution species on the performance of these alkalis were done. The third part of this research focused on field scale mechanistic simulation studies of geochemical scaling during ASP flooding. This is one of the major challenges faced by the oil and gas industry and has been found to occur when sodium carbonate is used as the alkali and the formation brine present in situ has a sufficiently high hardness content. The multicomponent and multiphase compositional chemical flooding simulator, UTCHEM was used to determine the quantity and composition of the scales formed in the reservoir as well as the injection and production wells. Reactions occurring between the injected fluids, in situ fluids and the reservoir rocks were taken into consideration for this study. Sensitivity studies of the effect of key reservoir and process parameters like the physical dispersion and the alkali concentration on the extent of scaling were also done as a part of this study.Item Imbibition of anionic surfactant solution into oil-wet matrix in fractured reservoirs(2013-05) Mirzaei Galeh Kalaei, Mohammad; DiCarlo, David Anthony, 1969-; Pope, G. A.Water-flooding in water-wet fractured reservoirs can recover significant amounts of oil through capillary driven imbibition. Unfortunately, many of the fractured reservoirs are mixed-wet/oil-wet and water-flooding leads to poor recovery as the capillary forces hinder imbibition. Surfactant injection and immiscible gas injection are two possible processes to improve recovery from fractured oil-wet reservoirs. In both these EOR methods, the gravity is the main driving force for oil recovery. Surfactant has been recommended and shown a great potential to improve oil recovery from oil-wet cores in the laboratory. To scale the results to field applications, the physics controlling the imbibition of surfactant solution and the scaling rules needs to be understood. The standard experiments for testing imbibition of surfactant solution involves an imbibition cell, where the core is placed in the surfactant solution and the recovery is measured versus time. Although these experiments prove the effectiveness of surfactants, little insight into the physics of the problem is achieved. This dissertation provides new core scale and pore scale information on imbibition of anionic surfactant solution into oil-wet porous media. In core scale, surfactant flooding into oil-wet fractured cores is performed and the imbibition of the surfactant solution into the core is monitored using X-ray computerized tomography(CT). The surfactant solution used is a mixture of several different surfactants and a co-solvent tailored to produce ultra-low interfacial tension (IFT) for the specific oil used in the study. From the CT images during surfactant flooding, the average penetration depth and the water saturation versus height and time is calculated. Cores of various sizes are used to better understand the effect of block dimension on imbibition behavior. The experimental results show that the brine injection into fractured oil-wet core only recovers oil present in the fracture; When the surfactant solution is injected, the CT images show the imbibition of surfactant solution into the matrix and increase in oil recovery. The surfactant solution imbibes as a front. The imbibition takes place both from the bottom and the sides of the core. The highest imbibition is observed close to the bottom of the core. The imbibition from the side decreases with height and lowest imbibition is observed close to the top of the core. Experiments with cores of different sizes show that increase in either the length or the diameter of the core causes decrease in the fractional recovery rate (%OOIP). Numerical simulation is also used to determine the physics that controls the imbibition profiles. %The numerical simulations show that the relative permeability curves strongly affect the imbibition profiles and should be well understood to accurately model the process. Both experimental and numerical simulation results imply that the gravity is the main driving force for the imbibition process. The traditional scaling group for gravity dominated imbibition only includes the length of the core to upscale the recovery for cores of different sizes. However based on the measurements and simulation results from this study, a new scaling group is proposed that includes both the diameter and the length of the core. It is shown that the new scaling group scales the recovery curves from this study better than the traditional scaling group. In field scale, the new scaling group predicts that the recovery from fractured oil-wet reservoirs by surfactant injection scales by both the vertical and horizontal fracture spacing. In addition to core scale experiments, capillary tube experiments are also performed. In these experiments, the displacement of oil by anionic surfactant solutions in oil-wet horizontal capillary tubes is studied. The position of the oil-aqueous phase interface is recorded with time. Several experimental parameters including the capillary tube radius and surfactant solution viscosity are varied to study their effect on the interface speed. Two different models are used to predict the oil-aqueous phase interface position with time. In the first model, it is assumed that the IFT is constant and ultra-low throughout the experiments. The second model involves change of wettability and IFT by adsorption of surfactant molecules to the oil-water interface and the solid surface. Comparing the predictions to the experimental results, it is observed that the second model provides a better match, especially for smaller capillary tubes. The model is then used to predict the imbibition rate for very small capillary tubes, which have equivalent permeability close to oil reservoirs. The results show that the oil displacement rate is limited by the rate of diffusion of surfactant molecules to the interface. In addition to surfactant flooding, immiscible gas injection can also improve recovery from fractured oil-wet reservoirs. In this process, the injected gas drains the oil in the matrix by gravity forces. Gravity drainage of oil with gas is an efficient recovery method in strongly water-wet reservoirs and yields very low residual oil saturations. However, many of the oil-producing fractured reservoirs are not strongly water-wet. Thus, predicting the profiles and ultimate recovery for mixed and oil-wet media is essential to design and optimization of improved recovery methods based on three-phase gravity drainage. In this dissertation, we provide the results from two- and three-phase gravity drainage experiments in sand-packed columns with varying wettability. The results show that the residual oil saturation from three-phase gravity drainage increases with increase in the fraction of oil-wet sand. A simple method is proposed for predicting the three-phase equilibrium saturation profiles as a function of wettability. In each case, the three-phase results were compared to the predictions from two-phase results of the same wettability. It is found that the gas/oil and oil/water transition levels can be predicted from pressure continuity arguments and the two-phase data. The predictions of three-phase saturations work well for the water-wet media, but become progressively worse with increasing oil-wet fraction.Item Local capillary trapping in geological carbon storage(2012-08) Saadatpoor, Ehsan, 1982-; Bryant, Steven L.; Sepehrnoori, Kamy, 1951-After the injection of CO₂ into a subsurface formation, various storage mechanisms help immobilize the CO₂. Injection strategies that promote the buoyant movement of CO₂ during the post-injection period can increase immobilization by the mechanisms of dissolution and residual phase trapping. In this work, we argue that the heterogeneity intrinsic to sedimentary rocks gives rise to another category of trapping, which we call local capillary trapping. In a heterogeneous storage formation where capillary entry pressure of the rock is correlated with other petrophysical properties, numerous local capillary barriers exist and can trap rising CO₂ below them. The size of barriers depends on the correlation length, i.e., the characteristic size of regions having similar values of capillary entry pressure. This dissertation evaluates the dynamics of the local capillary trapping and its effectiveness to add an element of increased capacity and containment security in carbon storage in heterogeneous permeable media. The overall objective is to obtain the rigorous assessment of the amount and extent of local capillary trapping expected to occur in typical storage formations. A series of detailed numerical simulations are used to quantify the amount of local capillary trapping and to study the effect of local capillary barriers on CO₂ leakage from the storage formation. Also, a research code is developed for finding clusters of local capillary trapping from capillary entry pressure field based on the assumption that in post-injection period the viscous forces are negligible and the process is governed solely by capillary forces. The code is used to make a quantitative assessment of an upper bound for local capillary trapping capacity in heterogeneous domains using the geologic data, which is especially useful for field projects since it is very fast compared to flow simulation. The results show that capillary heterogeneity decreases the threshold capacity for non-leakable storage of CO₂. However, in cases where the injected volume is more than threshold capacity, capillary heterogeneity adds an element of security to the structural seal, regardless of how CO₂ is accumulated under the seal, either by injection or by buoyancy. In other words, ignoring heterogeneity gives the worst-case estimate of the risk. Nevertheless, during a potential leakage through failed seals, a range of CO₂ leakage amounts may occur depending on heterogeneity and the location of the leak. In geologic CO₂ storage in typical saline aquifers, the local capillary trapping can result in large volumes that are sufficiently trapped and immobilized. In fact, this behavior has significant implications for estimates of permanence of storage, for assessments of leakage rates, and for predicting ultimate consequences of leakage.Item Parameters that affect shaped hole film cooling performance and the effect of density ratio on heat transfer coefficient augmentation(2014-05) Boyd, Emily June; Bogard, David G.Film cooling is used in gas turbine engines to cool turbine components. Cooler air is bled from the compressor, routed internally through turbine vanes and blades, and exits through discrete holes, creating a film of coolant on the parts’ surfaces. Cooling the turbine components protects them from thermal damage and allows the engine to operate at higher combustion temperatures, which increases the engine efficiency. Shaped film cooling holes with diffuser exits have the advantage that they decelerate the coolant flow, enabling the coolant jets to remain attached to the surface at higher coolant flow rates. Furthermore, the expanded exits of the coolant holes provide a wider coolant distribution over the surface. The first part of this dissertation provides data for a new laidback, fan-shaped hole geometry designed at Pennsylvania State University’s Experimental and Computational Convection Laboratory. The shaped hole geometry was tested on flat plate facilities at the University of Texas at Austin and Pennsylvania State University. The objective of testing at two laboratories was to verify the adiabatic effectiveness performance of the shaped hole, with the intent of the data being a standard of comparison for future experimental and computational shaped hole studies. At first, measurements of adiabatic effectiveness did not match between the labs, and it was later found that shaped holes are extremely sensitive to machining, the material they are machined into, and coolant entrance effects. In addition, the adiabatic effectiveness was found to scale with velocity ratio for multiple density ratios and mainstream turbulence intensities. The second part of this dissertation measures heat transfer coefficient augmentation (hf/h0) at density ratios (DR) of 1.0, 1.2, and 1.5 using a uniform heat flux plate and the same shaped hole geometry. In the past, heat transfer coefficient augmentation was generally measured at DR = 1.0 under the assumption that hf/h0 was independent of density ratio. This dissertation is the first study to directly measure the wall and adiabatic wall temperature to calculate heat transfer coefficient augmentation at DR > 1.0. The results showed that the heat transfer coefficient augmentation was low while the jets were attached to the surface and increased when the jets started to separate. At DR = 1.0, hf/h0 was higher for a given blowing ratio than at DR = 1.2 and DR = 1.5. However, when velocity ratios are matched, better correspondence was found at the different density ratios. Surface contours of hf/h0 showed that the heat transfer was initially increased along the centerline of the jet, but was reduced along the centerline at distances farther downstream. The decrease along the centerline may be due to counter-rotating vortices sweeping warm air next to the heat flux plate toward the center of the jet, where they sweep upward and thicken the thermal boundary layer. This warming of the core of the coolant jet over the heated surface was confirmed with thermal field measurements.Item Physical Resource Management and Access Mediation Within the Cloud Computing Paradigm(2012-10-19) Betts, HutsonCloud computing has seen a surge over the past decade as corporations and institutions have sought to leverage the economies-of-scale achievable through this new computing paradigm. However, the rapid adoptions of cloud computing technologies that implement the existing cloud computing paradigm threaten to undermine the long-term utility of the cloud model of computing. In this thesis we address how to accommodate the variety of access requirements and diverse hardware platforms of cloud computing users by developing extensions to the existing cloud computing paradigm that afford consumer-driven access requirements and integration of new physical hardware platforms.Item Study of initial void formation and electron wind force for scaling effects on electromigration in Cu interconnects(2013-05) Wu, Zhuojie; Ho, P. S.The continuing scaling of integrated circuits beyond 22nm technology node poses increasing challenges to Electromigration (EM) reliability for Cu on-chip interconnects. First, the width of Cu lines in advanced technology nodes is less than the electron mean free path which is 39nm in Cu at room temperature. This is a new size regime where any new scaling effect on EM is of basic interest. And second, the reduced line width necessitates the development of new methods to analyze the EM characteristics. Such studies will require the development of well controlled processes to fabricate suitable test structures for EM study and model verification. This dissertation is to address these critical issues for EM in Cu interconnects. The dissertation first studies the initial void growth under EM, which is critical for measurement of the EM lifetime and statistics. A method based on analyzing the resistance traces obtained from EM tests of multi-link structures has been developed. The results indicated that there are three stages in the resistance traces where the rate of the initial void growth in Stage I is lower than that in Stage III after interconnect failure and they are linearly correlated. An analysis extending the Korhonen model has been formulated to account for the initial void formation. In this analysis, the stress evolution in the line during void growth under EM was analyzed in two regions and an analytic solution was deduced for the void growth rate. A Monte Carlo grain growth simulation based on the Potts model was performed to obtain grain structures for void growth analysis. The results from this analysis agreed reasonably well with the EM experiments. The next part of the dissertation is to study the size effect on the electron wind force for a thin film and for a line with a rectangular cross section. The electron wind force was modeled by considering the momentum transfer during collision between electrons and an atom. The scaling effect on the electron wind force was found to be represented by a size factor depending on the film/line dimensions. In general, the electron wind force is enhanced with increasing dimensional confinement. Finally, a process for fabrication of Si nanotrenches was developed for deposition of Cu nanolines with well-defined profiles. A self-aligned sub-lithographic mask technique was developed using polymer residues formed on Si surfaces during reactive ion etching of Si dioxide in a fluorocarbon plasma. This method was capable to fabricate ultra-narrow Si nanotrenches down to 20nm range with rectangular profiles and smooth sidewalls, which are ideal for studying EM damage mechanisms and model verification for future technology nodes.