November 19, 2008: Omron Electronic Components LLC has released the 2SMES-01 high frequency mechanical relay, utilizing the company’s expertise in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. Developed to meet the needs of the automated test equipment market, this product has exceptional high frequency characteristics at 10GHz (50Ω) typical: 30dB Isolation; 1dB Insertion Loss; 10dB Return Loss.
The relay is comprised of two, SPST-NO silicon chips, packaged together for SPDT or DPST-NO operation in a compact enclosure measuring only 5.2 × 3.0 × 1.8mm. Driven by an electrostatic drive system, it is rated for 100 Million operations at 0.5 mA @ 0.5VDC resistive load, and has been tested over 1 billion cycles. Additionally its power consumption is extremely low at 10μW max.
“Our MEMS RF switch combines the highly desirable HF characteristics of electromechanical relays with the life expectancy usually only found in solid-state relays,” said Donna Sandfox, product manager, Omron Electronic Components LLC, in a statement.