The main objective of this activity is to establish a methodology for the evaluation of the complete RF SOA of European millimiter-wave processes.

Up to now, the RF Safe Operating Area (SOA) of a process is evaluated by performing, at Room Temperature, RF step stress tests and RF life testing on specific parts and for specific applications only. In order to establish the complete RF SOA of a process, i.e. the RF SOA covering the main applications of a process, the two following main testing need to be done. Firstly, RF step stress tests and RF life testing will be performed on several MMIC designs and/or discrete parts, specifically chosen to be representative of the main applications of 2 major European millimeter-wave processes. Secondly, RF life testing in temperature (Low Temperature, Room Temperature and High Temperature) will be performed on components in order to evaluate, for the 2 millimetre-wave processes, the worst case of temperature to be used for the detection of failures due to Impact Ionisation, electron-hole trapping, etc. More specifically, the following tasks will be performed in this activity: 1-: Survey/overview of the different methods and operating conditions used to define the DC+RF SOA of millimetre-wave components (MMICs and discrete parts) and processes 2- Selection of 2 European Millimetre-wave processes 3- Definition and selection of the test structures: MMIC Designs and Discrete parts covering the main applications of 2 European millimeter-wave processes 4- Definition of the Reliability Test Plan: Definition of the RF step Stress Tests and the RF life Testing to be performed on the test structures w.r.t the applications and w.r.t the temperature 5- Performance of the Reliability Testing 6- Results Analysis for each European Millimetre-wave Process: Complete RF SOA evaluation and Reliability Testing Methodology Identification for two millimetre-wave processes