Comparative study of hot-electron reliability of PHEMT vs. MESFET for high efficiency power amplifiers

Author

Tkachenko, Y. ; Klimashov, A. ; Wei, C. ; Zhao, Y. ; Bartle, D.

Author_Institution

Alpha Ind. Inc., Woburn, MA, USA

Volume

2

fYear

1999

fDate

13-19 June 1999

Firstpage

799

Abstract

Hot electron induced degradation of PHEMTs and MESFETs was compared. For both types of transistor, a decrease of open channel current, a small increase of near pinch-off current, an increase of breakdown voltage and on resistance are observed as a result of stress. For both types of devices hot electron injection into SiN passivation and hot hole injection into the buffer is responsible for degradation. The (Stress)x(Lifetime) figure of merit for PHEMT is 1.3 A A/spl middot/hr/cm, which is one order of magnitude lower than that for MESFET.

Keywords

hot carriers; microwave field effect transistors; microwave power amplifiers; microwave power transistors; power HEMT; power MESFET; semiconductor device breakdown; semiconductor device reliability; MESFET; PHEMT; SiN; SiN passivation; breakdown voltage; buffer layer; high efficiency power amplifiers; hot electron induced degradation; hot electron injection; hot hole injection; hot-electron reliability; near pinch-off current; on resistance; open channel current; pseudomorphic HEMT; Degradation; Electron traps; Hot carriers; MESFETs; PHEMTs; Passivation; Power amplifiers; Power generation; Silicon compounds; Stress;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest, 1999 IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

Anaheim, CA, USA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-5135-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.1999.779880

Filename

779880