TABLE OF CONTENTS MEMS switches have several potential advantages relative to solid-state devices: a MEMS relay can operate above 1 GHz with lower insertion loss than a transistor, and can also carry DC higher currents and broader bandwidths. MEMS relays are the only technology which can achieve signal power above 10W for the entire range of frequencies from 100 Hz to 10 GHz [36].
MEMS have had a number of commercial successes: inkJet cartridges, airbag sensors and digital projectors, for instance. The next commercial success is expected to be in the area of MEMS-based switches although success has in the past been claimed in this area, little has reached the market until recently. The commercial market niches which MEMS-based relays are initially expected to fill are automated test equipment, telecommunications and cell phones. A MEMS RF relay can potentially outperform the IC counterpart in all areas except one. A MEMS relay has superior bandwidth, lower insertion loss and higher isolation only in time to switch does the IC surpass the mechanical counterpart (it takes time to move the relay s hunk of metal from one state to the other: under some designs this can be as little as hundreds of nanoseconds, but this is still much slower than moving an electron around in an IC).
Any quality relay requires a low ON resistance (m ? contact resistance or <0.1 dB insertion loss) and a high OFF resistance (M ? open circuit resistance or...
