Dec 9, 2015

Temperature, humidity, and bias acceleration model for a GaAs pHEMT process

Highlights

This paper investigates the moisture failure acceleration factors for a GaAs pHEMT process
The activation energy Ea and the moisture accelerating factor n were extracted
Ea and n were shown to be different from those previously reported for Si devices and for another GaAs pHEMT process
The impact of bias was studied and incorporated into a humidity-induced failure model containing Vgs dependence
The failure mode was studied and reported as a transistor failure due to corrosion of the contacts
Comparison between THB and HAST testing was made for different processes

Abstract

This paper investigates the moisture failure acceleration factors for a GaAs pHEMT process. The activation energy Ea and the moisture accelerating factor n were extracted and were shown to be different from those previously reported for Si devices and for another GaAs pHEMT process. The impact of bias was studied and a humidity-induced semiconductor failure model, incorporating bias acceleration, was proposed.

Keywords