Reliability testing of state-of-the-art PM HEMT MMICs three-stage low-noise amplifier

Author

Saito, Y. ; Jones, W. ; Lizandro, C.J. ; Mai, K. ; Perry, C. ; Wiltz, J. ; Claxton, S. ; Esfandiari, R. ; Rezek, E.

Author_Institution

TRW Electronic Syst. Group, Redondo Beach, CA, USA

fYear

1997

fDate

4-7 Oct. 1997

Firstpage

153

Lastpage

156

Abstract

Reliability testing of three-stage, low-noise PM (pseudomorphic) HEMT (high-electron-mobility transistor) MMICs (monolithic microwave integrated circuits) was performed with constant stress accelerated life tests at three temperatures. The reliability of PM HEMT MMICs was found to be as excellent as that of discrete HEMTs. The MTF is 2*10/sup 6/ h at a 125 degrees C channel temperature. This result is based on the failure criteria of noise figure and gain change of 0.5 and 1.0 dB, respectively, at 26.5 GHz. From the observed activation energy of 1.3 eV and the gate voltage shift, the failure mechanism was probably due to a combination of gate-sinking and oxygen diffusion into the active channel region of unpassivated HEMTs.<>

Keywords

MMIC; circuit reliability; failure analysis; high electron mobility transistors; integrated circuit testing; life testing; microwave amplifiers; semiconductor device noise; 1.3 eV; 125 C; 2*10/sup 6/ hours; 26.5 GHz; O diffusion; PM HEMT MMICs three-stage low-noise amplifier; activation energy; channel temperature; constant stress accelerated life tests; failure criteria; failure mechanism; gate voltage shift; gate-sinking; high-electron-mobility transistor; mean time to failure; monolithic microwave integrated circuits; noise figure; pseudomorphic HEMT; reliability testing; Circuit testing; HEMTs; Integrated circuit reliability; Integrated circuit testing; Life testing; MMICs; MODFETs; Microwave integrated circuits; Monolithic integrated circuits; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Gallium Arsenide Integrated Circuit (GaAs IC) Symposium, 1992. Technical Digest 1992., 14th Annual IEEE

Conference_Location

Miami Beach, FL, USA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-0773-9

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/GAAS.1992.247202

Filename

247202