Reliability consideration of GaAs pHEMT Schottky diodes for mixer applications

Author

Chou, Y.C. ; Leung, D. ; Biedenbender, M. ; Fordham, O. ; Grundbacher, R. ; Kan, Q. ; Liu, P.H. ; Eng, D. ; Lai, R. ; Chin, P. ; Block, T. ; Oki, A.

Author_Institution

Northrop Grumman Space Technol., Redondo Beach, CA, USA

fYear

2004

fDate

24-27 Oct. 2004

Firstpage

123

Lastpage

126

Abstract

Factors affecting reliability performance of GaAs PHEMT Schottky diodes for mixer applications were investigated: the total gate periphery, gate feed cross-sectional area, and the operating gate current. In addition, an elevated two-temperature lifetest at T_ambient of 265°C and 280°C was performed to reveal the degradation mechanism of GaAs Schottky diodes. It was found that Ti diffusion into the AlGaAs layer is the primary degradation mechanism. The Schottky diode degradation exhibits an increase in reverse gate leakage current/series resistance, and a decrease in Schottky barrier height. The lifetest showed that no failure was induced by electro-migration on diodes operating up to 1.2×10¹⁰ Amps/cm² (the maximum allowable current density for Au in MIL-M-38510 is 6×10⁵ Amps/cm²). Accordingly, the reliability guideline of GaAs PHEMT Schottky diodes for mixer applications was established.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; Schottky diodes; aluminium compounds; electromigration; gallium arsenide; high electron mobility transistors; mixers (circuits); semiconductor device reliability; 265 C; 280 C; AlGaAs; GaAs; GaAs pHEMT Schottky diodes; Schottky barrier height; Schottky diode degradation; electro-migration; elevated two-temperature lifetest; gate feed cross-sectional area; mixer applications; operating gate current; reliability guideline; reverse gate leakage current; series resistance; total gate periphery; Current density; Degradation; Feeds; Gallium arsenide; Gold; Guidelines; Leakage current; PHEMTs; Schottky barriers; Schottky diodes;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Compound Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Symposium, 2004. IEEE

ISSN

1550-8781

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8616-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CSICS.2004.1392509

Filename

1392509