Reliability design of semiconductor devices for CS-3 communication satellite

Semiconductor devices used in the CS-3 communication satellite are required to have higher reliability than the devices used in the CS-2 satellite, because of the long-life and large communication capacity design of the CS-3 satellite. This paper present the technologies for improving the reliability of the semiconductor devices used in the CS-3 transponders. Lifetime lengthening for GaAs power MESFET's is accomplished by appling Ti/Al Schottky gate metallization. Long-term stress testings of a large number of samples were undergone. Radiation hardness of Si devices is assured through selection. (author)