High reliability non-hermetic 0.15 μm GaAs pseudomorphic HEMT MMIC amplifiers

High reliability performance of a Ka-band low-noise MMIC amplifier fabricated using 0.15 mu m production AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs HEMT process technology is reported. Operating at an accelerated DC bias condition of Vds=5.2V and Ids=250mA/mm, two-stage balanced amplifiers were lifetested at three-temperatures (T-ambient=235 degrees C, T-ambient=250 degrees C, and T-ambient=265 degrees C) in air ambient. Failure time for each temperature was determined using Delta S21=-1.0 dB measured at room temperature as the failure criteria. The activation energy (Ea) is 1.6 eV, achieving a projected median-time-to-failure (MTF) of 7x10(9) hours at a 125 degrees C junction temperature. This is the first report of 0.15 mu m HEMT reliability based on S21 failure criteria of MMIC amplifiers under DC stress at high junction temperature in air ambient. This result demonstrates a robust HEMT technology immune to the stress effects of high electric field under high temperature operation suitable for non-hermetic commercial Ka-band applications.