Abstract:

A review is made of compound semiconductor device reliability from the period 1980 to the present.  Emphasis is placed on technology based on field effect transistors (FETs).  Many reliability studies were made of small signal GaAs FETs in the 1970’s and of GaAs power FETs in the 1980’s; a substantial reliability based exists for these devices.  However, there remains a lack of reliability data for GaAs devices such as digital ICs, MMICs, and heterojunction transistors (GEMTs, HBTs).  Future directions for high reliability lie in device designs to reduce channel and junction temperatures, reduction in inter-diffusion and ion migration between metal/semiconductor layers and between semiconductor layers, and in the development of high temperature stable Schottky barrier metallization and Ohmic contacts.
 

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