Reliability of GaN-Based HEMT devices

This paper reviews the main problems characterizing the past and present of GaN-based HEMT reliability. Some general considerations on the maturity of this technology and published lifetesting extrapolations are followed by a review of physical degradation mechanisms, subdivided between temperature-activated and electrical ones, the latter generally linked with the much-debated ldquocurrent collapserdquo. The paper ends with some conclusive remarks on what has been achieved and what still lies ahead.