150-nm GaN HEMT Degradation under Realistic Load-Line Operation

In this paper, reliability issues in Gallium Nitride (GaN) HEMTs are empirically investigated. To this purpose, stress measurements were carried out on a microwave transistor under realistic load-line conditions exploiting a nonlinear load-pull setup operating at few megahertz. Although the characterization strategy was applied on a 150-nm GaN technology, it has general validity and, as will be demonstrated by the reported experimental results, can be successfully applied to evaluate the maturity of the investigated technology processes.