NORWOOD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) today introduced a breakthrough in switch technology that provides a long-sought replacement for electromechanical relay designs first adopted by the electronics industry more than 100 years ago. ADI’s new RF-MEMS switch technology is enabling faster, smaller, lower power, more reliable instrumentation equipment by resolving multiple performance limitations commonly attributed to relays, whose origins date to the earliest days of the electric telegraph. With the commercial release of products enabled by this technology, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can significantly improve the accuracy and versatility of automatic test equipment (ATE) and other instrumentation tools to help their customers reduce testing costs, power and time to market. Future products within the MEMS switch series will replace relays in aerospace and defense, healthcare, and communications infrastructure equipment, allowing OEMs in those markets to pass similar size, power and cost savings along to their customers.
The first in a new product series, ADI’s ADGM1304 and ADGM1004 RF MEMS switches are 95 percent smaller, 30 times faster, 10 times more reliable, and use 10 times less power than conventional electromechanical relays.
- Learn more about ADI’s MEMS switch technology: http://www.analog.com/memsswitch
- View the ADGM1304 and ADGM1004 MEMS switch product pages, download data sheets, order samples and evaluation boards:
- Connect with engineers and ADI product experts on EngineerZone®, an online technical support community: https://ez.analog.com/community/switches_multiplexers/content
MEMS Switch Technology Delivers 0-Hz (DC) to Wideband RF Performance
Unlike
other switch alternatives such as solid-state relays, the ADGM1304 and
ADGM1004 MEMS switches have superior precision and RF performance from 0
Hz (DC) to 14 GHz. ADI’s MEMS switch solution contains two die to
maximize operational performance – an electrostatically actuated switch
in a hermetically sealed silicon cap, and a low-voltage, low-current
driver IC. The switching element has a highly conditioned, extremely
reliable metal-to-metal contact that is actuated via an electrostatic
force generated by the companion driver IC. The resultant co-packaged
solution ensures best-in-class DC precision and RF performance, and
makes the switch extremely easy to use.
Switch Breakthrough Extends ATE Equipment Lifetime and Channel
Densities
The highly reliable ADGM1304 and ADGM1004 increase
cold-switching lifetime by a factor of 10 compared to electromechanical
relays, extending ATE system operating life and reducing costly downtime
caused by relay failures. Additionally, the extremely small height of
the ADGM1304 and ADGM1004 MEMS switch packages allow designers to
surface-mount the devices on both sides of their ATE test boards to
boost channel densities at reduced cost and without expanding equipment
footprint. An integrated charge pump removes the need for external
drivers, further reducing ATE system size, while a multiplexer
configuration simplifies the fan-out structure compared to DPDT relay
designs.
Pricing and Availability
|
Part |
Sample |
Production |
Price Each |
Package | ||||
|
ADGM1304 |
Now |
Now |
$36.58 |
24-lead 5mm × 4mm × 0.95mm LFCSP |
||||
| ADGM1004 | Now | February 2017 | $39.34 |
24-lead
5mm x 4mm x 1.45mm LFCSP |
||||
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