Evaluation of high-voltage transistor reliability under nonlinear dynamic operation

In this paper, we present a measurement setup for characterizing high-voltage high-power microwave transistors in terms of their reliability under actual operating conditions. By operating in the megahertz range, one exploits important advantages as the use of low-cost instrumentation and the possibility of handling high voltages and high powers. Finally, the gathered data, which are consistent with RF operation, are used to evaluate the reliability of the technology-under-test. An example of stress measurements is provided for a 100-VDC GaN HEMT delivering an output power of 10 W.