Failure Analysis of the Effect of Hydrogen on

GaAs Device
Chao Duan, Zhimin Ding, Zhaoxi Wu, Xiaoqing Wang, Chao Li, Xu Wang
1
Center of Failure Analysis Affiliation, China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing, China.
*
Phone: +86-135-817-36381 Fax: +86-10-6874-6312 Email: super_duan@126.com

Abstract—In this paper, we analyzed the reduction of the

signal-to-noise ratio of the signal received by the system caused III. PROBLEM ANALYSIS AND POSITIONING
by the failure of a GaAs device. By the means of fault tree, it
can be concluded that the failure is in that the operating point Final Radio Frequency Amplifier Failure
of the GaAs device was not selected at the appropriate gate
voltage bias position, and at the same time the device gain
decreased under the hydrogen effect. Finally, it led to the
systematic function failure. A large number of contrast tests
concerning the failure components and the samples were
designed and implemented during the analysis. The suitable
working bias voltage was determined. The degradation impact Using Problem
caused by the hydrogen effect on the GaAs device performance X1:The Problem
inside the Device
was analyzed. It provides reference for controlling the failure
mode of the device during its subsequent production and
application.

Keywords-GaAs;Failure; Hydrogen Effect

Electrical Environment
I. INTRODUCTION X2:Difference Overstress Problems
from Operating
The GaAs is an important semiconductor material. It is of Point Selection
high electron mobility and therefore is widely applied to the
field of wireless communication in high-frequency machines,
such as microwave devices and high-speed digital circuits. X3:self-
The semiconductor devices made of the GaAs shows good excitation of
the amplifier
performances in high frequency and under high and low X4-1:
X4-2:
temperatures; they also produce low noise and high radiation Moisture
Hydrogen
Effects
resistance. With the wide application of GaAs devices, their
failure problems grow more and more complex. Some new
failure mechanisms have also emerged, i.e., the hydrogen
effect. That is to say, the hydrogen may slowly leak out from Figure 1. Fault Tree for Abnormal Module
the encapsulating material, degenerating devices’
performance and affecting their normal function. A. X1 - The Problem inside the Device
By constructing a fault tree, this paper analyzed the
• A total of 50 devices from the same batch were
maximum possible event for the failure of the malfunction
selected, from which 10 devices were selected for
component and localized the fault point with high efficiency
tests of temperature cycling, constant acceleration,
and accuracy. The cause of failure of the component was
demonstrated through tests and its mechanism was analyzed. steady-state life (175℃, Idd = 250mA, Vdd= Vdd=
5V, 1000h), high and low temperature, SEM and
II. PROBLEM OVERVIEW bonding strength, shear force, etc. and no failure was
observed among all the 10 devices.
The signal-to-noise ratio of the signal received by a
• The focused ion beam (FIB) test and the scanning
module decreased; the losing lock is widely appeared in
electron microscope (SEM) test were respectively
signals. The fault is positioned at the final radio frequency
carried out on the failure components and the normal
amplifier through troubleshooting. In order to further
chips from the same batch. Ti, Pt and Au of the
determine the cause of the fault, the fault tree method was
then adopted to analyze and troubleshoot the possible cause metal system had a thickness of 404nm (for failure
of the gain reduction of the final radio frequency amplifier. components) and 402nm (for samples), respectively.
The test results were normal. The results are shown
in Figure 2 & 3.

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Figure 2. FIB Results of Failure Components
Figure 3. FIB Results of Samples
• Another 5 samples were reassembled and subject to
the dynamical aging (input -12dBm, -0.8V, +5V,
125 ) for 26 hours together with samples having
been subject to static aging (125 , 1000h). No
significant change in gain was observed among 7
chips. After those tests, the gate voltage of the
above-mentioned 7 samples was adjusted to -1.2V.
The remaining testing conditions were unchanged.
After 115 hours of dynamic aging, 7 chips showed
no significant change in gain.
Base on above, the assumption that the problem inside the
chip may cause the device failure was ruled out due to the
analysis of the chip quality assurance process, the FIB test
results, the aging test results of chips from the same batch
and the chips subject to the evaluation.
B. X2 - Difference from Operating Point Selection
In the actual circuit design, the set DC operating point is
about 150mA (the gate voltage was -1.2V.) and the grid
voltage deviation data of the failure components tested are
shown in the figure below.
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Figure 4. Test Diagram for Gain Contrast Energized & Gate Voltage
(Samples vs Failure Components)
In the image, the three curves represented:
Blue: sample test curve
Orange: the first time test of failure module curve
Green: after 85℃, 48h, failure module curve
The gate voltage bias during the first test for failure
components was -1.2V, which decreased by 13.28dB when
comparing with the gains of samples. However, after the test,
when the gate voltage bias of the failure component was set
to be -0.8V, its gain decreased by 2.74dB when comparing
with the gains of samples. After the aging for 48 hours under
85℃, the gain under 1.2V of gate voltage decreased by
21.72dB and the gain under the 0.8 V of gate voltage
decreased by 3.43dB.
Before and after the aging test, when the gate voltage
bias of the failure components was -1.2V, the changes in
gain fluctuated dramatically; when the gate voltage bias was
-0.8 V, the gain remained almost unchanged. The above
testing data show that the changes in gain vary with the
operating points of the gate voltage. However, the gain
changes of the gate voltage (-1.2V) selected in the actual
circuit design were more dramatical than that of the gate
voltage (-0.8V) after the fault occurs. Therefore, the reason
cannot be ruled out that the difference in operating point
selection has caused the component failure.
C. X3 - The self-excitation of the amplifier causes a
decreased stability in cascade.
The output end of the failure module is directly
connected to the filter. If the filter is abnormal, it may cause
damage to the final amplifier inside the module. Therefore,
the stability of the failure module and of the filter after
cascade was analyzed.
• The standing wave deflection test and the anti-
mismatching test were carried out on normal
components and there was no self-excitation after
those tests.
The standing wave deflection test and the anti-
mismatching test were carried out on normal module
to verify the module stability.
The test conducted the current and the spectrum
monitoring for standing waves of 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, 5:1
and 10:1, respectively. During the test, the working
current was stable, no self-excitation signal was
 observed by the spectrometer and the module was in
normal operation.
• The high temperature baking test without electricity
was conducted to rule out the external electric stress.
The high temperature baking test without
electricity was carried out on the modules with the
same model but different batches under 125 and
150 for 48 hours, respectively. Then, the testing
results of those modules showed that the gain
decreased by about 16dB under the -1.2V of gate
voltage and the gain decreases by 2.7dB under -0.8V
of gate voltage. The external electric stress then
could be ruled out.
TABLE I. FIVE CONTRAST TESTS ON HYDROGEN EFFECT
Through the contrasting analysis of the above tests, the
gains of the module under different gate voltage biases
experience no obvious change in the unsealed state and the
gain decreases when the module (the hydrogen content is
more than 1.7%) is in the sealed state. Through the
contrasting test on sub-threshold swing characteristics, it can
be found that the interface state increases and therefore the
possibility cannot be ruled out that the module failure is
caused by hydrogen effect.
After the above troubleshooting, the analysis shows that
the problem of the module’s reduced signal-to-noise ratio
lies in that the device operating point was not selected at the
appropriate gate voltage, and at the same time, the gain
decreases under the hydrogen effect, which eventually leads
to the module’s malfunction.
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Based on the above analysis, the possibility could
be ruled out that the reduction of the cascade
stability was caused by a self-excited amplifier.
D. X4 - External Environment - Moisture & Hydrogen
Effects
A gas composition was conducted on failure components.
The content of moisture was 4.84%, which met the standard.
The content of hydrogen was 1.7%. A hydrogen effect will
cause the threshold voltage drift and the leakage current drop
of GaAs PHEMT devices.
The failure module had not been dehydrogenated during
tube and shell processing. In order to verify the effect of
hydrogen on the module, five contrast tests were conducted,
as shown in table 1.
IV. MECHANISM ANALYSIS ON HYDROGEN EFFECT
In general, the failure of electronic components can be
divided into fatal and non-fatal. The fatal failure is to
completely disable a device while the non-fatal failure leads
a device to degraded parameters and confined performance.
The hydrogen effect refers to the degradation effect on GaAs
device performance induced by hydrogen, which belongs to
non-fatal failure.
The existence of hydrogen effect has been confirmed. It has
been shown by tests that Si is inhibited when it is mixed with
GaAs and exposed to an ionic environment like hydrogen.
Infrared scanning data has also confirmed the existence of
(SiAs3) As-H complex[1]. a degradation of DC and RF
parameters occurs in PHEMT devices tested in sealed
encapsulation environment or hydrogen environment. The
fundamental reason for the degradation is the hydrogen
released from encapsulating material such as Kovar alloy
and electroplated metal [2-3].
The exact reason for device degradation caused by
hydrogen remains unknown and is being researched. At
present, two representative theories have been proposed. One
theory is that the hydrogen reduces the number of carriers in
the device channel. This theory suggests that the hydrogen is
dissociated into atomic hydrogen in the Pt layer due to Pt
catalysis; then, the atomic hydrogen diffuses into the device
channel and forms Si-H which further inhibits the donor
impurity Si in the channel; the inhibition of the donor will
reduce the concentration of the channel carrier, thus reducing
drain current, transconductance and gain[4]. For example,
when the non-encapsulated GaAs FET is exposed to 100%
hydrogen environment and the temperature is set to be 150
for 4 hours (which is referred to as “standard hydrogen
exposure”), the transconductance will experience a
significant attenuation as shown in figure 6 [5].
Figure 5. Degradation of Device Energized by DC after Hydrogen
Exposure
Another theory is that the hydrogen affects the self-built
potential removed by Schottky. According to this theory, the
principle that the effect of the hydrogen on the inter-phase
characteristics is that the atomic hydrogen’s entrance into the
interface between the metal gate and the semiconductor will
affect the interface state and then change the self-built
potential removed by the metal gate and the semiconductor.
[6]
There are still no effective preventive measures against
hydrogen effect now. Therefore, metals that do not react with
hydrogen can be adopted as the gate material to deal with the
hydrogen effect on metal in GaAs devices, such as gate
materials containing no Pt, Ti, or Pt/Ti structures.
V. CONCLUSION
Through the above analysis on failure cases and the study
on test results, it is confirmed that the device failure is due to
the improper selection of bias voltage at the operating point,
causing a decreased signal-to-noise ratio in the system under
the hydrogen effect.
The hydrogen leaking from the sealed metal
encapsulation will affect the gas composition inside the
device, which has a severely harmful impact on the devices,
especially the GaAs devices. The hydrogen slowly leaking
out from the encapsulating material can react with the gate
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metal of the device and lead to the drift of threshold voltage.
The hydrogen may also affect the internal and interface state
of the semiconductor and degrade the device’s electrical
performance. The slow but continuous release of hydrogen in
metal materials will affect the long-term reliability of
components. Therefore, such phenomena shall be given
special attentions and be prevented from happening during
device research and manufacturing.
The current microwave semiconductor device commonly
used metal ceramic package, hydrogen release from the
metal casing or the surface coating. To ensure the reliability
of the device used, we make the following recommendations.
For metal package at least 24 hours of high temperature
baking at 200℃ was needed, in order to promote the release
of internal hydrogen. Because of the sensitivity of the device
on the hydrogen effect is determined by the device structure
and process, the sensitive level of hydrogen effect of device
should to evaluated. By means of both, can effectively
reduce the hydrogen effect when microwave GaAs devices
were used.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
First of all, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to
my dear colleague, Ms. Zhimin Ding, for her instructive
advice and useful suggestions on this paper. I am deeply
grateful of her help in the completion of this paper.
High tribute shall be paid to Mr. Zhaoxi Wu, who has helped
me a lot in this failure analysis.
Last my thanks would go to my lovely family for their
great confidence in me. I also owe my sincere gratitude to
my friends who gave me help and time in listening to me and
helping work out my problems during the difficult point
during the failure analysis.
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