The effects of Si or Ge addition to NiInW ohmic contacts on their electrical behavior were studied, where the samples were prepared by evaporating Ni(Si) or Ni(Ge) pellets with In and W and annealed by a rapid thermal annealing method. An addition of Si affected the contact resistances of NiInW contacts: the resistances decreased with increasing the Si concentrations in the Ni(Si) pellets and the lowest value of ∼0.1 &OHgr; mm was obtained in the contact prepared with the Ni‐5 at. % Si pellets after annealing at temperatures around 800 °C. The contact resistances did not deteriorate during isothermal annealing at 400 °C for more than 100 h, far exceeding process requirements for self‐aligned GaAs metal‐semiconductor field‐effect‐transistor devices. In addition, the contacts were compatible with TiAlCu interconnects which have been widely used in the current Si process. Furthermore, the addition of Si to the NiInW contacts eliminated an annealing step for activation of implanted dopants and low resistance (∼0.2 &OHgr; mm) contacts were fabricated for the first time by a ‘‘one‐step’’ anneal. In contrast, an addition of Ge to the NiInW contacts did not significantly reduce the contact resistances.