MEMS and non-MEMS Switches Market Research Report (sample) by Mike Pinelis

MEMS and non-MEMS Switches Market Research Report Report audience: semiconductor and electronics industry executives, industry and financial analysts, OEM and module company buyers, current and prospective MEMS and non-MEMS switch suppliers. Reasons for customers to buy this report: • obtain a “big picture” overview of the MEMS and non-MEMS switch supply chain and players • increase your company’s chances of winning business with OEMs and system integrators • improve your understanding of the competitors • identify and connect with potential partners for potential collaboration opportunities • identify the challenges and opportunities Report topics: • Switches in electric/electronic systems: an introduction • Switch technologies • Solid state switches • Electromechanical switches • MEMS switches • Applications of switches and relays • Switch producers • Interviews with RF MEMS company executives and leading technologists Report length: 114 pages Report rate: US $5,400 (enterprise license)

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Let us now focus on the micro-electromechanical electromechanical (MEMS) switches and their applications. First of all, the working principle of an electrostatically controlled micro-relay micro relay is shown in the schematics reported in Figure 6. A suspended movable membrane is suspended over a fixed electrode, electrode, and when it is in the rest position the input and output terminations (T1 and T2 in figure) are disconnected (open switch). On the other hand, when a bias voltage larger than the pull-in pull level is imposed between the Act1 and Act2 terminals, the movable membrane collapses onto the underlying electrode, indeed closing the contact between T1 and T2.

section of a micro-electromechanical micro electromechanical (MEMS) switch electrostatically controlled. Figure 6. Schematic cross-section The T1 and T2 pins are the input and output terminals, while Act1 and Act2 are the terminals for applying the DC controlling voltage to the switch. The left schematic represents the switch in the rest (i.e. open) position, while the right schematic depicts the pulled-in pulled switch (i.e. closed state). A typical application of electrostatically actuated MEMS switches is within networks for the conditioning and manipulation of Radio Frequency (RF) and microwave signals.. To this purpose, the RF RF-MEMS network reported in the micro-photographh of Figure 7 represents a reconfigurable impedance matching tuner, discussed in detail in [5]. The network is arranged in the Coplanar Waveguide (CPW) configuration, and it comprises a bank of MIM (Metal-Insulator Insulator-Metal) capacitors and of suspended coil inductors nductors (both in series and shunt configuration with respect to the central RF signal line). The central part of the network features several electrostatically actuated MEMS ohmic switches switch that, depending on their configuration (actuated or not actuated), select or deselect the capacitive and inductive contributions loading the RF line, indeed reconfiguring the impedance transformation operated by the network between its input and output terminations. By employing 8 switching stages, the network realizes 256 different impedance configurations.

Figure 7. Micro-photograph of a reconfigurable impedance matching tuner entirely manufactured in RF-MEMS technology. Proprietary and Confidential

Figure 10. Block diagram of a typical receiver architecture for RF telecommunication systems, employing MEMS EMS switches for reconfiguring the hardware as well as the oscillating and filtering functions. 7. Switch producers In this section some of the most important producers and providers of switches are reported. In particular, Table 10 reports a list of suppliers ers for which the website and the Country are also reported. Moreover, in the right columns of Table 10, per each supplier the type(s) of switches manufactured is(are) reported (i.e. solid state, mechanical, MEMS switches). On the other hand, Table 11 lists some of the most important Research Institutes working on switch technologies and their development. Furthermore, Table 12 and Table 13 report additional information completing and integrating what is shown in Table 10 and Table 11. In particular, for what concerns commercial producers of switches (listed in Table 10), the data in Table 12 provide synthe synthetic information on the offerings, applications areas and recent developments for each company. On the other hand, for the research centers and institutes listed in Table 11, the information comprised in Table 13 will focus on the research activities, recentt developments and unique aspects of the activities concerned to each institute.

Aeroflex Microelectronic Solutions, Inc. Advanced Technical Materials, Inc. Agilent Technologies Altech Corp. Analog Devices, Inc. APEM

Country

http://www.aeroflex.com/

USA

http://www.atmmicrowave.com/index.htm

USA

http://www.home.agilent.com/agilent/home.jspx?lc=eng& cc=US http://www.altechcorp.com/

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http://www.analog.com/en/index.html http://www.apem.com/

France

MEMS switches

Website

Solid state switches

Commercial producer

Mechanical switches

Table 10. List of some of the most popular switches and relays producers, comprising the Company website and the Country where the Companies are based. based In the right columns the typology(ies) of switches suitable for realizing the requested function is(are) marked.

Radiall, Inc.

Raytheon

Renaissance Electronics Corp.

from DC up to 20-40 GHz, depending on the models, and present promising characteristics in terms of power handling. All the Radant MEMS present very good reliability performance and are provided in package. Radant MEMS also provides a few evaluation boards, in order to test their switches with coaxial connection measurement setups. Radant MEMS is rather flexible in meeting the customer requirements, e.g. developing also active control circuitry for the manufactured RF-MEMS switches Recent developments Radant MEMS recently released a few RF-MEMS switches qualified to handle power levels as high as 10 W Overview Radiall, Inc. (based in Rosny sous Bois, France), founded in 1952, is a company dealing with the design, development and manufacturing of RF devices and components serving the telecommunications, aerospace, defense, instrumentation, automotive, industrial, medical and broadcast markets. Some of the products present in the Radiall catalog are fiber optic connectors and transceivers, antennas for tactical networks, aerospace components and instrumentation, and so on Products Radiall provides a wide variety of RF and microwave micromechanical coaxial switches with very good performance and characteristics, working from DC up to 40 GHz. The configurations of Radiall switches are diverse, including basic SPDTs as well as SPMTs. All the switches are provided within robust packages compliant with several connector standards. Some switches models have reduced dimensions (miniaturized) and all of them exhibit excellent reliability and lifetime performance. The so called “platinum series” Radiall switches present further improved reliability characteristics. The Radiall switches are RoHS compliant Recent developments Radiall recently released switches with improved characteristics in terms of frequency range operation, and switches compliant with operation within thermal vacuum environments Overview Raytheon Company (based in Waltham, MA, USA), founded in 1922 in Cambridge, MA, has always aimed at the development of new technology solutions with a high level of innovation. Raytheon does not sells standalone components, but develops systems based on advanced technologies. For example, the commitment of Raytheon is in integrated defense systems, missile, space and airborne systems, and so on Products Raytheon developed, since the second half of ’90, RF switches in MEMS technology with remarkable characteristics and high reliability, as well as packaging solutions for their protection, encapsulation and integration. Raytheon also demonstrated through the years high performance reconfigurable phase shifters and RF filters based on MEMS switches Recent developments Raytheon achieved in 2010 remarkably improved performance and characteristics, related to the developed RF-MEMS switches, for what concerns isolation, insertion loss, and reliability Overview Renaissance Electronics Corporation – REC (based in Harvard, MA, USA), together with its owned subsidiary HXI founded in 1992, provides RF, microwave and millimeter wave solutions for military and commercial applications. The REC products catalog comprises a wide variety of devices and components, among which are attenuators, low noise amplifiers, mixers, detectors, and so on Products The REC products catalog features a comprehensive portfolio of RF and microwave switches realized in different technologies and according to diverse working principles. REC provides several electromechanical and solid state switches in various

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SEM micrograph of a Radant SPST electrostatically actuated microswitch showing the cantilever beam which can be electrostatically pulled down to provide continuity between the Source and Drain terminals. Extensive lifetime testing has been conducted on RMI switches by Radant as well as independently by each of the Tri-Service DoD laboratories (Air Force Research Laboratory, Army Research Laboratory and Naval Research Laboratory) under the auspices of a DARPA program. This testing lead to a median cycle to switch failure of greater than 1 trillion switching cycles with the longest recorded lifetimes exceeding 1.5 trillion switch cycles before the test was halted after 30 continuous months of testing. Infant failure modes are currently being eliminated via device screening and on-going process improvements. Research in contact physics, materials and packaging has contributed to the impressive progress that has been made in improving RF MEMS switch reliability. The number of required switching cycles for a specific application is quite variable and can range from 25,000 cycles for an active missile seeker that is only employed for final engagement to over 1 trillion cycles for Transmit/Receive applications. Many military applications (such as radar) can be satisfied with a more conservative 100 billion cycle rating while some commercial ATE applications will find 100 million cycles exceeding current technologies by an order of magnitude. Typical RF mechanical relays have rated lifetimes on the order of 10 million cycles, which is 10 to 100 thousand times smaller than what is currently achievable with MEMS switches!

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