Early FET designs were sensitive to damage due to static or ESD. Some amateurs installed external static discharge devices to reduce these failures.

Later FET designs incorporated some ESD protection.

Earl Andrews, VE3AB (Elliot Lake, Ontario) has a large collection of Dual Fate MOSFET devices and other pre-amp active devices. He has also tested and measured their characteristics in radio usage. http://www.earlandrews.com/dgmosfets.html

DownEast Microwave is a good source for modern GaAsFET devices. http://fwfvq.tehfm.servertrust.com/category-s/1827.htm

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