Practical Approaches to Remediation of Hydrogen Poisoning in GaAs Devices

A number of approaches have been investigated for remediation of the deleterious effects of exposure of GaAs Field Effect Transistors to hydrogen gas. Understanding the degree of risk and mission lifetime requirements is key to selection of the most appropriate remediation approach. A new metric, hydrogen exposure, which is the product of partial pressure and time, and an associated degradation exposure, which relates to a defined failure point, are useful in engineering a practical solution. While use of a properly designed, irreversible hydrogen getter is felt to be the best approach at this time, other remedies such as controlled leaks, package bakeout, and bias compensation can also be effectively employed in certain situations