ABSTRACT
Microswitches have the potential to replace conventional relays and solid-state switches in a number of low-power applications. These microswitches are smaller in size and switch faster than existing mechanical relays, such as reed relays. MEMS switches feature greater isolation as well as lower on-resistance than transistor switches. Electrostatically actuated MEMS switches consume very little steadystate power, unlike reed relays and p-i-n diode switches. The potential uses of MEMS switches include RF switching in applications such as cell phones, phase shifters and smart antennas [1], as well as reed relay replacement in Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) and industrial and medical instrumentation. For many of these applications lifetimes of ten billion cycles or more are expected.
