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4 - Niche switch technologies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2014

By
Stepan Lucyszyn ,
Suneat Pranonsatit ,
Joo-Young Choi  and
Andrew S. Holmes
Edited by
Stepan Lucyszyn
Stepan Lucyszyn
Affiliation:
Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London
Suneat Pranonsatit
Affiliation:
Kasetsart University
Joo-Young Choi
Affiliation:
Sony Stuttgart Technology Centre
Andrew S. Holmes
Affiliation:
Imperial College London
Stepan Lucyszyn
Affiliation:
Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London
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Summary

Introduction

The past five years have seen a dramatic rise in the number of niche switch technologies being reported in the open literature. These include, but are not limited to, the general areas of latching, multiway and high-power. These niche technologies are covered within the same dedicated chapter, because of the synergy found between them. It should be of no surprise that there is a large overlap between these technologies; with latches being used in both multiway and high-power switches and the need for implementing high-power multiway switches.

Latching switches

For some applications, switches are required that are non-volatile and able to remain in any state after the source of actuation energy has been removed. For example, in certain safety-critical applications it is essential for the state of the system to be preserved in the event of a power failure. In other systems, for example, in portable electronic devices, remote sensors and unmanned aerial (or air or aircraft) vehicles (UAVs) or systems (UASs), the available power is limited and non-volatile switches are attractive because they require zero holding power, regardless of their state.

Type
Chapter
Information
Advanced RF MEMS , pp. 73 - 108
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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