Pd/Ge ohmic contact to n-type GaAs is obtained by using the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) method. The best specific contact resistivity of ohmic contacts annealed at 400-500 degrees C is on the order of 10(-6) Omega cm(2). Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) measurement shows that these ohmic contacts are very shallow. Gallium dissociation from GaAs is observed. It is found that there is a correlation between a gallium SIMS signal bump and good ohmic contact behavior. A model is proposed for this phenomenon. This RTA ohmic contact method has been successfully applied to the fabrication of charge injection transistor/negative resistance field-effect transistor devices.