A novel Au:Cu/Pt: Ir/ Ti Ohmic contact to p(+)-GaAs is investigated and compared with the Au/Pt:Ir/Ti Ohmic contact for electrical performance, fabrication compatibility, and resilience to mechanical abrasion. Annealing at 400 degrees C for 30 s produces a contact resistivity of 1.47 x 10(-6) Omega-cm(2) for Au: Cu/Pt: Ir/ Ti. The Pt-Ti provides a diffusion barrier for Cu to eliminate its adverse effect as a deep acceptor in GaAs. The Cu-Au contacts withstand standard GaAs fabrication including rapid thermal annealing and wet etching. These contacts withstand mechanical surface abrasion better than pure gold contacts. (C) 2005 The Electrochemical Society.