Beyond Passive Reliability: Repeated Electron Wind Force Rejuvenation of GaN HEMTs

Abstract

Performance degradation in electronic devices is caused by nucleation and accumulation of electrically active defects and traps. This spotlight on applications introduces a novel paradigm to actively reverse the damage process with electron wind force (EWF). EWF is a nonintrusive and nonequilibrium mechanism for defect migration at near-ambient average temperatures. Enhancement-mode gallium nitride (GaN) high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) were systematically degraded via high-temperature storage at 310 °C, which induced upto 13% reduction in drain current, 0.2 V negative threshold voltage shift, and 12% reduction in peak transconductance. A brief 1-minute application of EWF achieved full parameter recovery. Crucially, across five consecutive degradation-rejuvenation cycles, the HEMTs maintained excellent resilience, retaining 98.5% of their initial drain current, 97% of peak transconductance, 95% of gate-lag, and 93% of drain-lag responses. These findings indicate that periodic in operando EWF rejuvenation may realize unprecedented reliability of wide-bandgap electronics in mission-critical operations.