Gallium Arsenide (GaAs)

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NC_Cane

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Jan 20, 2018
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First time post from a long-time lurker. Thank you to all that make this forum great.
In the picture there is a small board roughly 1 inch by ½ inch.
The board is a GaAs RF Amplifier.
My first question is “how much” GaAs is on this board? Is it trace amounts on a microscopic level or the whole PCB?
Assuming it is not the whole PCB where on the board is it?
I gather that gallium arsenide is soluble in HCL but not in Nitric Acid. If these were processed in Nitric Acid to “Float” the gold off the board just like finger boards, are the GaAs components likely to “float” off as well?
Any feedback is appreciated.
 

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GaAs is a semiconductor, just as silicon. It is used in the die and in this case I think it is the six wire bonded components in the center of the board.

There are a gazillion of different packages it can come in. Just as silicon dies might be naked and bonded directly to the board or packaged in a plastic or ceramic capsule.

GaAs is used in a lot of different applications, but in this case I believe it is used as a high speed/frequency amplifier and that is why I believe it just is the six bonded dies that is made from GaAs. It is more expensive than silicon so if it isn't absolutely necessarily to use it then it won't be.

Göran
 
GaAs is indeed used in power amp circuits. There is a local company that "grows" them for cell phones. I say grow as that's how they do them, one layer at a time lain down under high vacuum vapor deposition to build up the wafer. It's then encapsulated in plastic. The layers, as in any wafer made this way are Nano-size thickness. I doubt you could recover enough to even identify, let alone make a profit on.
 
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