Hydrogen effects on reliability of GaAs MMICs

Author

Camp, W.O., Jr. ; Lasater, R. ; Genova, V. ; Hume, R.

Author_Institution

IBM Syst. Integration Div., Owego, NY, USA

fYear

1989

fDate

22-25 Oct. 1989

Firstpage

203

Lastpage

206

Abstract

Investigations into unexplained RF gain changes versus time during life tests have lead to the conclusion that hydrogen gas in quantities as small as 0.5% of ambient atmosphere can cause significant performance degradation in as little as 168 h at elevated temperatures (125 degrees C). This amount of hydrogen has been readily observed in Kovar hermetic packages with 0.1 cm/sup 3/ internal volume. The apparent mechanism for this degradation is the conversion of gaseous hydrogen into atomic hydrogen in Pt metallization, with subsequent doping compensation due to the atomic hydrogen. The loss of electron carriers leads directly to lower transconductance and lower RF gain. A change in the Schottky diode characteristics is also noted.<>

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; MMIC; failure analysis; field effect integrated circuits; gallium arsenide; hydrogen; life testing; metallisation; microwave amplifiers; packaging; platinum; reliability; 125 C; 168 h; GaAs; GaAs MMICs; GaAs:H; H/sub 2/ effects; Kovar hermetic packages; Pt metallisation; RF gain changes; Schottky diode characteristics; doping compensation; elevated temperatures; failure mechanism; gain reduction; internal volume; life tests; loss of electron carriers; lower RF gain; lower transconductance; performance degradation; reliability; residual gas analysis; semiconductors; Atmosphere; Degradation; Gallium arsenide; Hydrogen; Life testing; MMICs; Packaging; Performance gain; Radio frequency; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Gallium Arsenide Integrated Circuit (GaAs IC) Symposium, 1989. Technical Digest 1989., 11th Annual

Conference_Location

San Diego, CA, USA

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/GAAS.1989.69326

Filename

69326