Commercialization of new MEMS switch technology addresses several performance challenges inherent in relay design.
Next-generation instrumentation offers benefits such as increased channel density, speed, and operating life, along with lower power consumption.

Analog Devices (Korea CEO Jaehoon Yang) announced a revolutionary switch technology that will replace the mechanical relay design used for over 100 years.

ADI's newly introduced RF-MEMS switch technology addresses several performance challenges inherent in relay design, enabling improvements in speed, size, power, and reliability of instrumentation.

Products based on this technology enable OEM manufacturers to significantly improve the precision and versatility of automatic test equipment (ATE) and other instrumentation tools, helping customers reduce test costs and power consumption and shorten time to market.

Future MEMS switch products are expected to replace existing relay products in the aerospace and defense, medical, and communications infrastructure equipment sectors, providing OEM manufacturers and their customers with benefits such as miniaturization, low power consumption, and cost reduction.

The ADGM1304 and ADGM1004 RF MEMS switches, the first in the new product family, are 95% smaller, 30 times faster, and up to 10 times more reliable and power-efficient than conventional electromechanical relays.

Wideband RF performance from 0Hz (DC)

The ADGM1304 and ADGM1004 MEMS switches offer superior precision and RF performance from 0Hz (DC) to 14GHz, unlike other switch technologies such as solid-state relays (SSRs). ADI's MEMS switch solutions integrate electrostatically actuated switches and low-voltage and low-current driver ICs in two dies, hermetically sealed silicon caps to maximize operational performance.

The switching element utilizes precisely tuned, highly reliable metal-to-metal contacts, driven by electrostatic forces generated by a co-integrated driver IC. Therefore, a solution that integrates two dies into a single package delivers best-in-class DC precision and RF performance, while also making the switch easier to use.

The ADGM1304 and ADGM1004 provide a 10-fold increase in cooled switching life compared to mechanical relays, helping extend the operating life of ATE systems and reduce system downtime due to relay failure.

Additionally, the low package height allows designers to surface-mount the switches on both sides of an ATE test board, increasing channel density at a low cost without expanding the equipment footprint. The integrated charge pump eliminates the need for external drivers, further reducing the size of ATE systems, and the multiplexer configuration simplifies the fan-out structure compared to DPDT relay designs.