A time to failure evaluation of AlGaN/GaN HEMT transistors for RF applications

This paper reports an evaluation of time to failure (TTF) of GaN transistors for 5G and RADAR applications. The TTF on Arrhenius curves are extrapolated from performed RF pulsed life tests with different input powers and duty cycles. The paper explains the temperature estimation method used in this study for operating conditions of the aging tests. A degradation mechanism of surface pitting is extrapolated from previous works. With our experiments, tests can show that the supposed scaling DC to RF life tests could be now extended for duty cycles. The high reliability of HEMT AlGaN/GaN on RF pulsed operating conditions is shown for a power bar of RF transistors.