ESD effects on GaAs MESFET lifetime

A study conducted to examine the effects of noncatastrophic ESD damage on GaAs MESFET lifetimes is discussed. More than 200 MESFETs were subjected to various levels of ESD, using the MIL-STD-883, Method 3015, human-body model (HBM) to determine susceptibility, damage indications, and whether repetitive exposure is cumulative. Ninety-nine samples from these tests were subjected to an accelerated lifetest and compared to controls from the same wafers. The tests show that damage results in increased gate leakage current, measureable damage occurs at significantly lower levels for forward-bias polarity, damage from repeated exposure to an ESD level is not cumulative, and noncatastrophic damage does not degrade lifetime.<>