How Much Derating will be Required for Reliable GaN HEMT Operation?

Wide band-gap semiconductor devices such as GaN HEMTs show great promise for high temperature, high frequency and high power operation. However, GaN’s full operational entitlement will be adversely impacted if significant voltage/field derating is required for reliable operation. This talk will focus on one such GaN reliability issue: time dependent breakdown (TDB). Sudden off-state gate-to-drain leakage TDB can occur in GaN HEMTs with little/no advanced warning of device degradation. The TDB seems to be electric field driven and is often attributed to inverse piezoelectric effects.