Influence of RF drive and switching frequency on degradation mechanisms in GaN HEMTs

GaN-based high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) have received increasing attention for their outstanding performance in RF-power applications [1]–[3]. Gallium nitride’s wide energy gap (3.49eV) and breakdown field (3MV/cm) allow HEMTs to tolerate high voltages and high temperatures, while its higher saturation velocity and the absence of doping atoms in the channel make them very fast switching devices compared to silicon-based ones. However, HEMTs still suffer from reliability problems like current collapse, gate-lag, and RF degradation, to be solved before they can be used for commercial purposes [4]–[5]. In this paper a review of RF and pseudo-RF stress campaigns carried out on GaN HEMTs is presented.