The local texture in three types of patterned, thin-film, Al and AlCu interconnections on Si semiconductor devices is investigated by electron backscatter diffraction. Two types of standard planar metal structures were investigated: (1) blanket Al and (2) blanket Al–0.5 wt &percent; Cu on TiN/Ti underlayers. Both were deposited on amorphousSiO2substrates followed by reactive ion etching to define 0.45–10 &mgr;m wide lines and>10×10 &mgr;m2pads. Damascene structures were also investigated in which Al–0.5 wt &percent; Cu films were deposited into preformed Ti-lined amorphousSiO2trenches, 0.3–5.0 &mgr;m wide by 0.4 &mgr;m deep, followed by chemical–mechanical polishing to remove the metal overburden. For these three types of structures, distinctly different behaviors were observed: the two planar metal samples exhibited either little change or a large increase in their (111) fiber texture strength with decreasing linewidth, while the damascene samples showed a marked decrease in the (111) fiber texture with decreasing linewidth and feature size. In addition, a novel trimodal (111) texture distribution was found in 0.3 &mgr;m wide damascene lines in which appreciableTiAl3formed. ©1998 American Institute of Physics.