Understanding the failure mechanisms of microwave bipolar transistors caused by electrostatic discharge

Electrostatic discharge(ESD) phenomena involve both electrical and thermal effects,and a direct electrostatic discharge to an electronic device is one of the most severe threats to component reliability.Therefore, the electrical and thermal stability of multifinger microwave bipolar transistors(BJTs) under ESD conditions has been investigated theoretically and experimentally.100 samples have been tested for multiple pulses until a failure occurred.Meanwhile,the distributions of electric field,current densit...