High reliability non-hermetic 0.15 μm GaAs pseudomorphic HEMT MMIC amplifiers

High reliability performance of a Ka-band low-noise MMIC amplifier fabricated using a 0.15 μm production AlGaAs-InGaAs-GaAs HEMT process technology is reported. Operating at an accelerated DC bias condition of Vds=5.2 V and Ids=250 mA/mm, two-stage balanced amplifiers were lifetested at three-temperatures (T_ambient=235°C, T_ambient=250°C, and T_ambient=265°C) in air ambient. Failure time for each temperature was determined using ΔS21=-1.0 dB measured at room temperature as the failure criteria. The activation energy (Ea) is 1.6 eV, achieving a projected median-time-to-failure (MTF) of 7×10⁹ hours at a 125°C junction temperature. This is the first report of 0.15 μm HEMT reliability based on S21 failure criteria of MMIC amplifiers under DC stress at high junction temperature in air ambient. This result demonstrates a robust HEMT technology immune to the stress effects of high electric field under high temperature operation suitable for non-hermetic commercial Ka-band applications