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

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.