Storage lifetime prognosis of an intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier based on physics of failure method

The Intermediate Frequency (IF) amplifier is one of the most important electronic components of a Radar guider, and its reliability estimation is a key issue in radar steady work. Limited by technology and time etc., it is very difficult to model, analyse, and estimate the reliability of an Intermediate Frequency (IF) amplifier by means of traditional methods, since Intermediate Frequency (IF) amplifiers are characterized by small sample size and long life, and it is hard to get large samples of the failure criteria in a short time. However, the failure criteria of the product are created by combining the Physics of Failure (PoF) analysis and the information from historic data about failed products. Based on the degradation trends and the failure criteria, the storage lifetime of the product can be predicted. Degradation of GaAs microwave device nearly related to stability of device's metallization which includes gate contact and ohmic contact. This article establishes a performance degradation model based on failure physics with uncertain activation energy. High temperature accelerant strass life test was performed on GaAs device to calculation the activation energy, and then uses the performance data and scanty life data to estimate the storage lifetime based on the new model. The instance analysis proves that the failure-physics-analysis-based method for the Intermediate Frequency (IF) amplifier is more effective in life forecast and consistent with engineering facts than the fake-life-based method.