Reliability and alleviation of premature on-state avalanche breakdown in deep submicron power PHEMTs

Reliability of devices operating at premature on-state avalanche breakdown and a method using a proper electrical stress to alleviate the breakdown are investigated in deep submicron power AlGaAs-InGaAs PHEMTs. The results show that depending on the gate and drain biases in device stress, alleviation of premature on-state avalanche breakdown may be achieved without degrading PHEMT´s DC and RF performance. On the other hand, PHEMTs may suffer catastrophic failure when stressed at Vds above the threshold value. This study facilitates a useful information for evaluating a reliability constraint imposed by the premature on-state avalanche breakdown and highlights a new direction to improving reliability and power performance of PHEMTs