Radiation Effects in GaAs Integrated Circuits: A Comparison with Silicon

This paper reviews the hardness capability of contemporary GaAs devices and logic circuits in terms of the four major nuclear and space radiation threat categories—neutron effects, total dose effects, dose rate effects, and single particle phenomena. The basic interaction mechanisms for each threat area are briefly described,, with emphasis given to potential problem areas and to fundamental differences between gallium arsenide and silicon. Existing and projected hardness levels characteristic of GaAs devices are compared with corresponding levels for silicon LSI technologies.