RF MEMS Switch manufacturers | Advantages of RF MEMS Switch

This page covers RF MEMS Switch Manufacturers or Vendors. The benefits or advantages of RF MEMS switch are also mentioned.

Introduction: RF Switches are widely used in RF design and RF test equipments in various domains such as wireless infrastructure, test and measurement systems, medical equipments, defense and aerospace. The typical applications include switched filter banks, tunable filters, antenna tuning, RF front ends, switch matrices, EM relay etc. RF switches are categorized into electro-mechanical and solid state types. MEMS stands for Micro electromechanical system. Solid state technique uses various devices such as PIN diodes, GaAs FETs and silicon diodes for its construction.

What is RF MEMS Switch ?

The micromechanical switches which operates in radio frequency (RF) range are called RF MEMS switch. The contact is opened and closed to pass signal across it similar to light switch. The RF MEMS switches are smaller in size due to miniaturized mechanical components and consume low power.

Figure depicts layout and block diagram of RF MEMS Switch in SP4T configuration. The four channels of this MEMS switch can be controlled individually by application of gate voltage to their respective RF GATE pins.

Following are the generic specifications of RF MEMS Switch.
• Operating frequency range
• Function of the switch i.e. SP4T, SPST, DPDT
• Insertion loss in dB
• IP3 ( Third Order Intercept Point )
• On State Resistance ( R_ON )
• Off State Capacitance ( C_OFF )
• Isolation in dB
• Power (CW)
• Switching speed
• Lifetime in number of cycles
• Controller (Direct drive, serial to parallel, SPI, GPIO)
• Input voltage
• Packaging type (BGA, LGA, WL-CSP)

Benefits or advantages of RF MEMS Switch

Following are the benefits or advantages of RF MEMS Switch.
➨It offers fast switching time.
➨It offers low insertion loss.
➨It offers high isolation.
➨It can handle relatively high incident RF power.
➨It house mechanical and electrical components at micro scale. Hence MEMS RF switches are smaller in size and lighter in weight. These switches can be produced in large volume. Hence they are very cost effective.
➨It consumes very low power.
➨It offers higher ESD immunity.
➨RF MEMS swiches can deliver better RF performance in extreme harsh temperature, vibration, shock, RF power etc.
➨RF MEMS switches are more robust compare to other switching techniques.

RF MEMS Switch Manufacturers or vendors

Following is the list of RF MEMS Switch manufacturers or vendors.

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