High-Reliability Deep Submicron GaAs Pseudomorphic HEMT MMIC Amplifiers

By D. Leung et al., Northrop Grumman Microelectronic Products & Services

Abstract

High-reliability performance of a Q-band MMIC amplifier fabricated using Northrop Grumman's 0.1 µm production AlGaAs/GaAs HEMT process technology is reported. Operating at an accelerated life test conditions of Vds=4.2V and Ids=150mA/mm, two-stage balanced amplifiers were life tested at three temperatures (Ta=255oC, Ta=270oC, and Ta=285oC) in air ambient. The activation energy (Ea) is as high as 1.7 eV, achieving a projected median-time-to-failure (MTF) of 6x109 hours at a 125oC junction temperature. MTF was determined by a 3T constant current stress using | ?S21 | > 1.0 dB as the failure criteria. This is the first report of high reliability 0.1 µm GaAs pseudomorphic HEMT MMICs based on small-signal microwave characteristics of HEMT MMIC amplifiers life tested at high junction temperatures. This result demonstrates a robust 0.1 µm GaAs PHEMT technology highly immune to the stress effects of high electric field and high temperature operation. The high reliability of 0.1 µm GaAs HEMT technology is significant for the both commercial and military applications in the millimeter wave frequency band.

Introduction

We have developed a highly robust both 0.1 µm and 0.15 µm GaAs HEMT MMIC technology that has demonstrated superior millimeter wave performance to meet the strong demand of present and future commercial and military electronic systems (1-5). With GaAs HEMT becoming a preferred technology for system performance improvement or the next generation system design, the demonstration of a robust technology for providing reliable, high performance MMICs at low cost and high yield to both the space/defense and commercial markets is essential. However, while the published data of GaAs HEMT reliability has been mostly focused on 0.15 µm GaAs HEMTs technology(6), few investigated the life test of 0.1 µm GaAs HEMT MMIC level which allows the reliability assessment on GaAs HEMT devices, passive element, via hole integrity, thin film resistors metal and interconnect. In addition, most of published reliability data has been focused on the discrete device only [7-9]. Accordingly, it is important to have available reliability information of 0.1 µm GaAs pseudomorphic HEMT MMIC amplifiers to assure the success of GaAs MMICs insertion for both commercial and military applications in the millimeter wave frequency band.

In this paper, high reliability nonhermetic 0.1 µm GaAs pseudomorphic HEMT MMIC amplifiers was demonstrated. The results benefit both microwave and wireless communities by demonstrating a reliable and robust GaAs pseudomorphic HEMT technology, a critical factor in widespread acceptance of GaAs pseudomorphic HEMT MMIC amplifiers for microwave & wireless applications.