ESD robustness of AlGaN/GaN HEMT devices

We have investigated the robustness of GaN-HEMT devices submitted to ESD events in different configurations. A good scaling of the failure current with the device width has been observed for both drain and gate TLP stresses. We have identified two failure mechanisms, related to the gate-source diode degradation and drain to gate filaments formation. Filaments formation was identified by means of emission microscopy, both while applying DC bias and during the TLP measurement itself. We have also found that the traditional TLP leakage measurement can not be used as a valid failure criterion. On the contrary, the gate-source diode measurement can provide interesting information on the device life-state.