Hydrogen-related burn-in in GaAs/AlGaAs HBTs and implications for reliability

We report a burn-in effect in carbon-doped GaAs/AlGaAs HBTs that results in an increase in dc current gain. The burn-in is the result of the annihilation of hydrogen-related recombination centers due to electron injection into the base. This burn-in effect needs to be taken into account in long-term bias stress testing of HBTs. Unrealistic values of mean time to failure and activation energy may be calculated otherwise.