Threshold voltage shift in 0.1 mu m self-aligned-gate GaAs MESFETs under bias stress and related degradation of ultra-high-speed digital ICs

Bias-temperature stress examinations of self-aligned 0.1 mu m length gate GaAs MESFETs have revealed a shift of threshold voltage related to Si doping concentration near the gate sides next to the channel region. With lower doping concentration, the increase in threshold voltage in FETs was faster and a 100 mV increase leads to a 20% reduction of operation speed in digital ICs after forward-biased storage at 200°C. The recovery of the performance under reverse-biased stresses was observed. The degradation is released by increasing Si doping concentration and thus we obtained the prediction of a median life exceeding 10^6 h at 100°C by setting the Si dose of 4 x 10^13 cm ^-2, which is as high as it can be set without causing serious reduction of breakdown voltage. 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.