Abstract: This paper presents a novel reliability life test bench designed especially for lifetime tests under pulse conditions on high RF power devices. Investigations are conducted into the monitoring of RF power, drain, gate, and current voltages and currents under varied temperature and pulse conditions. On a specialized RF S-band test bench, a 3000-hour pulsed radiofrequency life test has been carried out in operational modes. Following these accelerated ageing tests, the data treatment yielded investigation findings regarding degradations of critical electrical parameters, which are presented. In order to stress the Lateral-Diffused Metal Oxide Semiconductor (LDMOS), many duty cycles are applied. It demonstrates that hot carriers-generated interface states (traps) and trapped carriers are related to the dominant degradation phenomenon through tracking of a set of RF parameters (Pout, Gain, and Drain Efficiency: DE).

Keywords: RF LDMOS, Transistor, Accelerated tests, Reliability, Hot carrier, thermal effect

Pages: 150-156