Studying lifetimes and failure rates of GaAs MMICs

Detractors of GaAs MMICs claim that these circuits will never match their hybrid counterparts for ruggedness. But it has been demonstrated that analyses performed on a commercial MMiC amplifier indicate otherwise, with projected MMiC lifetimes matching those of discrete devices. Accelerated life testing indicates that high reliability can be expected from present-generation GaAs MMICs over long operating lifetimes. In addition, good reliability can be expected in terms of radiation hardness and insensitivity to electrostatic discharge; the distributed amplifier chosen as an example survived radiation levels of 120 Mrad and static voltages up to 2000 V.