Effect of drain voltage on channel temperature and reliability of pseudomorphic InP-based HEMTs

By performing biased accelerated life tests and three dimensional temperatu re simulations the effect of drain voltage on reliability and channel tempe rature of pseudomorphic InAlAs/InGaAs HEMTs for low noise applications was investigated. At V-d = 1 V excellent long term stability in nitrogen ambien t was observed. Increasing the drain voltage to V-d = 2 V at constant chann el temperature leads to a faster degradation rate which is caused by field accelerated degradation mechanism, probably involving fluorine diffusion. T he influence of gate width on channel temperature and reliability was found to be small. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.