A versatile pulsed I(V ) and 40-GHz RF measurement system is described with all the know-how and methods to perform efficient, safe, and reliable nonlinear transistor measurements. Capability of discrimination between thermal and trapping effects with a pulse setup is demonstrated. Capture and emission constant times of trapping effects are measured. A method to electrically measure the thermal resistance and capacitance of transistors with a pulse setup is proposed.

International audienceA new time-domain waveform measurement system based on the combination of an harmonic source and load-pull setup with a modified vector network analyzer (VNA) is presented. It allows the visualization, the measurement, and the optimization of high-frequency currents and voltages at both ports of nonlinear microwave devices. Measurements of GaAs field effect transistor (FET's) and GaInP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT's) at L-band were performed to demonstrate the great capabilities of the system. On one hand, voltage and current waveforms at both ports of transistors, working as power amplifiers, were optimized for maximum power-added efficiency. On the other hand, time-domain waveforms of transistors operating as frequency multipliers were optimized for maximum conversion gain. Such results prove the capabilities offered by this new nonlinear time-domain measurement system to aid in designing optimized power amplifiers or frequency multipliers. They also provide valuable information for nonlinear transistor model validatio

This paper presents a detailed trap investigation based on combined pulsed I/V measurements, drain current transient (DCT) measurements and low-frequency dispersion measurements of transconductance (LF Y21) and output conductance (LF Y22). DCT characterization is carried out over a 7-decade time scale. LF Y21and Y22measurements are carried out over the frequency range from 100 Hz to 1 GHz. These combined measurements were performed at several temperatures for AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors under class AB bias condition and allowed the extraction of the activation energy (Ea) and the capture cross section (σc) of the identified traps. Extensive measurements of these characteristics as a function of device bias are reported in this work to understand the dynamic trap behavior. This paper demonstrated a correlation between LF small-signal (LF Y21and Y22) and large-signal voltage steps (DCT) results. These measurements allow identifying the same 0.64 eV deep level, attributed to a native defect of GaN, possibly located in the buffer layer.

International audienceThis paper investigates the impact of irregular pulsed RF signals on the pulse-to-pulse (P2P) stability of a microwave power GaN HEMT amplifier. This study is based on both the time-domain envelope measurements and nonlinear circuit envelope simulations of P2P stabilities. Measurements and simulations are performed with an irregular pulse train that integrates a long silence (i.e., off-time) between each periodic burst of RF pulses because of its influence on temperature and trap behaviors of GaN HEMTs. The first aim is to experimentally characterize the impact of silence durations and output mismatching on the amplitude and phase P2P stabilities of a 10-W S-band GaN HEMT amplifier. The second objective is to assess the ability of nonlinear HEMT models to fit the time-domain measurements of pulse-to-pulse stabilities. This final part of the paper is focused on the relative impact of electro-thermal and drain-lag models on the nonlinear circuit envelope simulations of pulse-to-pulse stabilities. It is demonstrated that both the thermal and trapping effects have to be considered to fit the complex behavior of measured pulse-to-pulse stabilities for microwave GaN HEMT power amplifiers