Characterization of GaN HEMT under short-circuit events

In this paper, an analysis of the failure mechanisms and degradation indicators of GaN HEMTs is presented. Understanding how this technology fails is critical, especially for space applications. Due to radiation, a common failure mechanism in space applications for GaN devices is the short-circuit event. A systematic method is proposed to perform "on-board" measurement of the critical electrical parameters and analyze the behavior of DUTs under short-circuit failures to build a reliability model. A setup to characterize GaN HEMTs devices is developed, and multiple tests at different conditions have been performed. The reliability challenge of GaN devices could be addressed by having on-board, in-system prognostics and device health monitoring techniques to predict device failures well ahead of time.