Applies to monolithic microwave GaAs integrated circuits (MMICSs) and their individual component building blocks, such as GaAs field effect transistors (FETs), resistors and capacitors.

Aims at estimating the expected lifetime of the devices at operational temperatures; usually the median lifetime (50 % failure) is used for this purpose.

The purpose is to define a standard approach for evaluating the expected life of GaAs MMICs so that results from different life tests can be compared and so that a user of MMICs can predict a lifetime for his application.