Effects of electromagnetic near-field stress on DC and RF performances of AlGaN/GaN HEMT

AlGaN/GaN HEMTs have positioned themselves as strong candidates for future radar applications requiring high power at microwave frequencies. In the context of studying the reliability of RF High Power Amplifiers (HPA) in their real environment, a study of the effect of electromagnetic stress on AlGaN/GaN HEMTs performances is presented in this paper. A near field setup is used to disturb with electromagnetic field a device under test (DUT). A comparative study between the injection of CW (Continuous Wave) and pulsed RF power are presented. Degradations in DC and power characteristics are observed. Thermal and trapping processes induce them. Pulsed RF power allows reducing the effect of self-heating.