RF vs. DC breakdown: implication on pulsed radar applications [MESFETs]

A complete RF power technology assessment for military applications

“…Any on state or off state drain-source breakdown voltage characterizations [3,7,9] were made due to the small sampling size. So, we couldn't detect breakdown walkout.…”

“…Nevertheless, the behaviour of a component in real time all along its life can't be adressed. That's why accelerated ageing tests are generally applied so that failure mechanisms would be evaluated using specific constraints as temperature, RF overdrive stress or current density [6,7].…”

“…So, we chose samples within specification limits which exhibited lowest drainsource breakdown voltages for their potential overdrive sensibility or lowest Idss for the weak power capability [3,7]. We performed a series of microsections in order to establish correlation between electrical characteristics and physical values (see figures 3 and 4).…”