Reliability study of AlGaN/GaN HEMT under electromagnetic, RF and DC stress

Abstract

In the context of studying the reliability of RF High Power Amplifiers (HPA) in their real environment, a study of the behavior of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs performances under electromagnetic stress is presented in this paper. The DUT has undergone several stress combinations (electromagnetic stress, electromagnetic and RF stress, electromagnetic and DC stress, …). The near field setup is used to disturb with electromagnetic field the device under test (DUT). Degradations in DC and power characteristics are observed for all stress types. This could be associated with electron trapping within the AlGaN barrier and AlGaN surface leading depletion of the 2-DEG.