Pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor monolithic microwave integrated circuits reliability study

Accelerated high temperature RF life testing was used to investigate the re liability of two-stage GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifiers based on 0.25 mum pseudomorphic high electron mobility tra nsistor technology. Life testing was performed at elevated baseplate temper atures with MMICs operating at typical d.c. bias conditions and large signa l RF drive levels of two dB compression. The resulting failure distribution was log normal and the estimated median life time extrapolated to a channe l temperature of 140 degreesC was 2.3 x 10(6) h with an activation energy o f 1.1 eV. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.