Ku band damage characteristics of GaAs pHEMT induced by a front-door coupling microwave pulse

A study on the damage effect of a GaAs pseudomorphic high-electron-mobility transistor (pHEMT) low-noise amplifier (LNA) induced by a Ku-band microwave is presented in this paper based on an experiment and simulation study. The experimental results suggest that the burn-out in the first stage is responsible for the LNA damage. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were used to observe the damage situation and compare the element composition before and after the high power microwave (HPM) injection. It is found that the gate metal is melted as a result of heat generation. The location beneath the gate near the source side is badly burned and splashes out. A detail simulation is performed by establishing a two-dimensional electric-thermal model considering several physical models and thermal parameters using the simulator Sentaurus-TCAD. The results show that the burn-out location is consistent with the experiment findings. Meanwhile, a temperature elevation occurs in both the positive and negative half cycles. Moreover, the damage to pHEMT shows the working voltage dependence, and the burn-out time increases with the increase in drain voltage.