Comprehensive Investigations of HBM ESD Robustness for GaN-on-Si RF HEMTs

Abstract

The paper reports extensive experimental study and simulations to provide an in-depth understanding on the impact of different stress scenarios on ESD robustness of GaN RF HEMTs. These include different terminal combinations, bias configurations, and polarities of human body model (HBM) pulses. The different current discharge paths for each stress scenario play the most vital role in determining its HBM ESD robustness. Transient HBM I-V characteristics have been verified with TCAD simulations which illustrate the on-state gate Schottky diode at high HBM stress voltages contribute to high HBM robustness of the GaN RF HEMTs. The different stress scenarios result in 3 types of HBM failure mechanisms.