Recent Advances in GaN-on-SiC HEMT Reliability and

Microwave Performance within the DARPA WBGS-RF Program

Dr. Mark J. Rosker
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714

Abstract The Wide Band Gap Semiconductor for RF

Applications (WBGS-RF) program, supported by the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is
developing microwave and millimeter-wave gallium nitridebased devices on silicon carbide substrates. Recent advances
within Phase II of the Program include excellent results for
both performance and reliability. Significant progress has
been made towards developing manufacturable widebandgap devices that provide outstanding performance at
reliability levels that will allow their use in a wide variety of
high frequency, high power applications.
Index Terms GaN, reliability, power amplifiers,
HEMT, SiC.

I. INTRODUCTION
Gallium nitride (GaN)-on silicon carbide (SiC) based
devices enable high power-added efficiency (PAE)
microwave and millimeter-wave monolithic microwave
integrated circuits (MMICs) that have far higher power
output and power density compared with currently
available transistors based on GaAs, InP or SiGe. These
high levels of performance largely stem from gallium
nitrides very high electrical breakdown field
characteristics and high electron sheet charge density.
The high thermal conductivity of semi-insulating bulk SiC
substrates provides a significant thermal advantage.
The objective of the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) Wide Band Gap
Semiconductors for RF Applications (WBGS-RF)
program is to advance GaN-on-SiC technology so that
devices and MMICs operating at frequencies ranging from
a few GHz to more than 40 GHz can be manufactured
with high yields and will exhibit high levels of
performance, sustainable over hundreds of thousands of
hours.
Prior to the commencement of Phase II of the WBGSRF program in 2005, many high performance microwave
frequency GaN high electron mobility transistors
(HEMTs) had been reported in the literature.
Unfortunately, the high performance levels achieved were
often not sustainable so that power output and gain of
these devices decreased with time, often within the first
few hours of operation. In addition, device yield was,
typically, quite low [1,2]. To address these problems, the

Phase II portion of the WBGS-RF program is focusing a

substantial amount of its efforts on increasing the
fundamental understanding of these stability and
reliability issues and eliminating sources of earlier
failures.
The program aims to assure long term reliable and
stable performance through rigorous and methodical
modeling, experimentation, analyses and evaluations. The
program emphasizes developing validated fabrication
processes at multiple foundries so that the GaN-based
device and MMIC requirements of a wide variety of
applications can be met. Contractor reliability and
performance data are routinely being corroborated by
scientists at government laboratories including the Air
Force Research Laboratory, the Naval Research
Laboratory, and the Army Research Laboratory. This TriServices team of evaluators is providing independent
analyses of the devices on the delivered wafers.
II. WBGS-RF PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
Phase I of DARPAs WBGS-RF initiative, conducted
between 2002 and 2004, contributed significantly to the
availability of low-defect, high-resistivity SiC substrates.
In early 2005, the three-year WBGS-RF Phase II program
began. By its conclusion, in 2008, it is expected that
many types of GaN-on-SiC devices with the potential for
enabling additional military and commercial applications
and vastly improving the characteristics of many existing
types of systems will be realized [3]. Subsequent to the
demonstration of the programs Phase II objectives, a twoyear Phase III program is planned which will culminate
with demonstrations of several types of high performance
MMICs and several types of modules. It is expected that
robust fabrication processes will be in place, coupled with
advanced design capabilities. Collectively, these will
make it possible to produce numerous additional types of
MMICs that have stable, reliable operation and can be
produced at an affordable cost.
The WBGS-RF program has three distinct performance
tracks. The goals of these tracks are shown in Table 1. In
addition to setting aggressive performance goals, the
program includes a large amount of reliability testing and

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numerous types of failure analyses to identify and

eliminate performance degradation mechanisms. Each of
three contractor teams is focusing on one of three different
tracks
These three independent tracks include
development of devices appropriate for X-band, Q-band,
and wideband (greater than an octave) MMICs and
modules by the end of the program.

devices will have excellent long term stability and

reliability characteristics. Metrics that are being used to
identify progress towards program goals can be grouped
into three categories that include RF performance,
stability and degradation, and producibility. Progress in
each category is discussed in more detail in the following
paragraphs.
A. RF Performance

III. CURRENT PROGRAM STATUS

All three contractor teams are achieving excellent RF

performance. The Raytheon/Cree team has simultaneously
achieved power added efficiency (PAE) of 55% with 7.9
W output power and gain of 11 dB for the Track 1 X-band
power amplifiers. For Track 2, the Northrop Grumman
team has achieved 40 GHz device operation with 1.5 W
output power (3 W/mm), 34% PAE and 7.7 dB gain. For
Track 3, the TriQuint team has achieved power density of
7.9 W/mm with greater than 55% PAE and greater than 12
dB gain using small gate periphery devices.
Systematic investigation of epi-layer designs has been
underway for some time, leading to increased
understanding of the role of epi design on reliability and
the realization of RF performance levels surpassing prior
results such as described in [4]. Improvements in PAE
and device gain have been achieved through buffer design
optimization and reduction of gate current leakage. The
role of buffer doping and the impact of barrier strain and
thickness have been analyzed carefully using DOEs, in an
effort to assure stable RF performance.
Several
contractors have been evaluating the possibility of
increasing device gain by incorporating back barriers that
provide increased carrier confinement.
All of the
contractors have undertaken studies and experiments to

Table I includes a summary of the progress to-date

toward meeting program goals for each of the tracks. The
performance results in the table are average values,
representing measurements of several devices from each
of several wafers.
The long term performance testing results, shown in the
last row of the table, represent test results for an earlier
generation of devices, operated at 28 V. The reason for
using these devices is that reliability testing takes a
considerable amount of time to perform and, at the time
that testing commenced, current device types were not yet
available. Nevertheless, the results achieved with these
device designs reflect dramatically improved device
stability and reliability compared with that extant at the
start of the program. Progress is continuing as teams
identify the causes of device degradation and modify
designs and fabrication recipes to eliminate them. Careful
designs of experiments (DOEs) have resulted in refined
epi-layer structures and improved processing procedures
that afford increased stability and reliability. While
excellent performance is now routinely achieved, the
teams still are working diligently to assure that these
performance levels will be sustained over time and that

TABLE I
WBGS-RF PROGRAM STATUS AND GOALS
Type
Integration Level
Track

Unit
X

Drain Bias
Cell Size
Operating Frequency

WBGS-RF Phase II Program

24 month
36 month
Status
Go/No Go Criteria
Device
Device
Q
WB
X
Q
WB

40

28

40

40

28

40

1250

500

400

1250

500

1250

GHz

10

40

10

8-12

>40

8-12

Output Power*

W/mm

7.9

1.5

3.1

7.94

1.58

7.94

Power Density*

W/mm

6.4

3.0

7.9

6.4

3.2

6.4

Power Added Efficiency

55

34

55

60

35

60

Gain at Power

dB

11

7.7

12.4

12

12

RF Yield

> 50

94

67

50

50

50

Output Power Uniformity

dB

1.5

0.2

0.36

% pts

1.8

2.9

PAE Uniformity
Small Signal Gain Uniformity

dB

0.3

0.52

Long Term Performance**

hrs

1.E+05

> 100

1.E+05

1.E+05

1.E+05

1.E+05

* Measured at compression corresponding to maximum PAE

Uniformity defined as the standard deviation in measured values from 100 devices/MMICs on all validation wafers
The fraction of devices from all validation wafers meeting or exceeding all relevant GNG requirements
** Failure is defined as a 1 dB decrease in output power compared with its level at the time that testing commences

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produce field plate configurations that provide more

uniform electric field characteristics across the gate region
of the devices. Source connected field plates have shown
the most promising performance at X-band.
B. Stability and Degradation
The current principal focus of all the contractor teams is
a convincing demonstration that device degradation
mechanisms have been eliminated. This is recognized to
be the key for achieving acceptance of GaN power
amplifiers for use in both military and commercial
applications. Even though commercial products are
becoming available at frequencies up to several GHz,
understanding and controlling device degradation
mechanisms must occur over the entire frequency range
that GaN-on-SiC devices and MMICs operate in [5].
Military applications typically have aggressive reliability
and RF performance requirements because of the harsh
operating environments they are often subjected to.
Understanding and elimination (or substantial reduction)
of device degradation is essential and it is believed that,
with efforts such as those that are part of DARPAs
WBGS-RF program, this critical objective will be
achieved.
Prior to this program, it was not unusual for devices to
have a lifetime of only a few hours. Today, many device
designs have demonstrated RF operation for more 1,000
hours with output power degradation of less than 1 dB,
often much less than 1 dB. Although the full planned
battery of RF and DC reliability testing could not be
completed by this point in the program, initial RF life tests
at multiple elevated temperatures, performed on an earlier
generation of devices operated at 28 V drain-source bias,
are encouraging. Based upon this elevated temperature
testing, projected mean-time-to-failure (MTTF) for many
of these devices is in excess of 105 hours, at a junction
temperature of 150 C. The activation energy has been
calculated as 1.05 eV for one of these device types. These
MTTF projections are comparable to the GaN-on-Si
MTTF described in [5]. Initial RF life tests on a more
recently fabricated device, biased at 48V, have
demonstrated operation for more than 750 hours with a
negligible drop in output power. Although only limited
data for a relatively small number of devices is currently
available, these recent results provide reason for optimism
that that stable performance under high voltage operating
conditions will be achieved at X-band and higher
frequencies.
As a consequence of the programs focus, significant
improvement has been made in the degradation
characteristics of the devices being produced. For
example, greatly reduced drain current collapse has been
achieved as sources of trapping are mitigated in the
buffer, barrier and at the surface interface. It has also

become apparent that significant degradation mechanisms

can be classified as occurring within three time periods:
(1) extremely short times, on the order of seconds; (2)
over several hours, and (3) after thousands of hours of
operation. Failures occurring within the first few minutes
of operation are highly process dependent and are
believed to be caused by either gate leakage through the
surface or by via Schottky barrier degradation. Pinning
down the sources of power degradation which occur over
the course of several hours is still elusive. Modeling of
current collapse and reliability is being performed in order
to allow more precise prediction of the electrical behavior
of the devices. Field dependent trapping models are being
used, and these models are being correlated with DC and
RF measurements.
Analysis of devices subjected to long term reliability
testing has revealed failure modes that were not
previously identified. While the impact of the electric
field profile under the gate region on reliability has been
known [6], new evidence of lattice disruptions has been
observed for devices that were subjected to long term
temperature and electric field stresses. In the past, it has
been suggested that hot electrons are responsible for the
formation of traps that result in failures under high electric
field conditions [7]. New studies within the WBGS-RF
program show degradation consistent with electrical field
driven defect formation [8]. From these studies, it is
postulated that lattice defects are generated by excessive
stress resulting from an inverse piezoelectric effect in the
barrier. Failure analysis of devices subjected to long term
stress support this hypothesis. Independent modeling
supports the importance of keeping the maximum electric
field strength below a critical value during device
operation.
C. Producibility
The third category of program goals is aimed at
developing device designs that can be reproducibly
manufactured with high yield. Within the WBGS-RF
program, the producibility of designs is determined by RF
yield, output power uniformity, PAE uniformity and small
signal gain uniformity. At this point in the program, the
producibility and uniformity objectives appear to be
achievable. Teams are continuing DOEs and accumulating
a large volume of data about wafer-to-wafer uniformity. A
remaining objective for all of the teams is to select a final
fabrication recipe for validation. Intermediate testing at
28V drain-source bias, for X-band and Wideband track
devices has demonstrated slightly better uniformity than
the values listed in Table 1 for devices operated at 40 V.
Tens of deliverable wafers are being generated during
every quarter of the program. This large number of wafers
has facilitated identification of critical aspects of epi layer
design and led to improved uniformity. Identical epi

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structures have been processed in different foundries and

the resulting devices have achieved comparable RF
performance and uniformity. Interaction within teams has
facilitated identification of critical processing-dependent
parameters so that improved epi structures can be
produced. Notably, both MOCVD and MBE growth
techniques are now yielding epitaxial layers of
comparable quality.
Uniformity and yield have significantly improved over
the last two years. One reason is the steady improvement
of SiC substrate quality. Substrate quality has been shown
to affect device performance. For instance, output power
uniformity has been shown to be related to substrate
lattice curvature. As the electrical and crystallographic
quality of SiC substrates continues to improve, uniformity
will also continue to improve. As high quality 100 mm
SiC substrates have become available, their use within the
program is becoming routine, replacing 3 inch substrates.
Initial devices fabricated on 100 mm diameter SiC wafers
have shown comparable epitaxial uniformity and similar
RF performance to that of devices fabricated on 3 inch
diameter substrates. The use of 100 mm substrates is
expected to result in significantly reduced production
costs in the future.
IV. FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
Continued rapid progress in demonstrating stable and
reliable high power performance at X-band and higher is
expected over the near term. Early measurements on
devices operating at > 40 V have shown gain and PAE
comparable to that of devices operated at lower drainsource voltages, indicating excellent material quality and
good baseline device designs. With the planned start of
Phase III in 2008, reliable MMICs and modules that
substantially outperform GaAs-based MMICs are
expected to be realized over the next few years. Higher
levels of reliability at operating voltages up to and
including 48 volts will be achieved. The frequency and
number of DC and RF operating life tests will increase as
the Phase II program approaches completion. This,
coupled with improved modeling and detailed analyses of
device failures, will lead to increased MTTF and highly
stable device and MMIC operation. In summary,
consistent progress continues to be made for all aspects of

GaN-on-SiC development and the future of MMICs using

these devices appears extremely promising.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author acknowledges the performer teams
participating in the WBGS-RF program, led by Joe
Smolko (Raytheon), Mike Wojtowicz (NGST), and Tony
Balistreri (TriQuint), as well as the government TriService evaluation team. In addition, the author would
particularly like to thank Justin Hodiak and Eliot Cohen
for their support in producing this manuscript.
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