PRESS RELEASE: Cenfire Expands Worldwide Access to Its Silicon-Based MEMS Switching Platform Through DigiKey
PRESS RELEASE: Cenfire Expands Worldwide Access to Its Silicon-Based MEMS Switching Platform Through DigiKey
SILICON MEMS SWITCHING PLATFORM
Built on proprietary silicon MEMS technology to help engineers move beyond the limitations of electromechanical relays (EMRs), solid state relays (SSR), reed relays, semiconductor switches, PhotoMOS relays, and other legacy switching technologies.
Compact architecture that enables more channels in less space.
Digital control eliminates relay driver circuitry.
True galvanic isolation with near-zero leakage.
The Weibull distribution suggests that up to 10V of hot switching voltage our contact metallurgy can withstand at least 23K cycles (at 10V, 200mA)
Physical evidence of repeated hot switching. Each crater is the visible signature of a hot-switching event at the contact surface. Cenfire’s engineered contact stoichiometry helps prevent welding and enables exceptional hot-switching reliability.
| Technology | MEMS | Semiconductor | Mechanical | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metric |  | Cantilever MEMS | PhotoMOS | CMOS/BCD ASIC | Reed Relay |
| Ron | 3 Ω | 3 Ω | .5 Ω | 8 Ω | .1 Ω |
| Coff | .2 pF | 1.6 pF | 800 pF | 2 pF | 1 pF |
| Vstandoff | ◆◆◆ | ◆◆◆ | ◆◆◆ | ◆◇◇ / ◆◆◇ | ◆◆◆ |
| Ileakage | ◆◆◆ | ◆◆◆ | ◆◆◆ | ◆◇◇ | ◆◆◆ |
| Qinj | ◆◆◆ | ◆◆◆ | ◆◇◇ | ◆◇◇ | ◆◆◆ |
| Bandwidth | ◆◆◆ | ◆◆◆ | ◆◆◇ | ◆◆◇ | ◆◆◇ |
| RF Isolation | ◆◆◆ | ◆◆◆ | ◆◆◆ | ◆◆◇ | ◆◆◆ |
| Switching Time | ◆◆◆ | ◆◆◆ | ◆◇◇ | ◆◆◆ | ◆◆◇ |
Legend: ◆◆◆ = Optimal for high-performance |
◆◆◇ = May introduce system constraints | ◆◇◇ = Likely to introduce system constraints
Smaller relays translate into more switching capacity in a smaller space with less weight. Regardless of market or industry, a smaller size generally leads to greater product innovation, lower overall costs, and competitive advantage. MEMS can be installed in locations impossible for full-size components. Without MEMS, smartphones and electronic wearables would not enjoy essential features, and certain modern products would simply not exist.
Traditional relays have been large and heavy. Cenfire’s MEMS platform is hundreds of times smaller and still easily customizable.
>10x Smaller
Only 0.1cm³
Cenfire’s MEMS platform will respond in under ten microseconds – hundreds of times faster than conventional components – and will do so reliably time after time after time.
>10x Faster
10us
In a conventional MEMS switch, the cantilever beam flexes at one point, just past its anchor. Repeated cycling of the switch causes the metal to fatigue, leading to the potential failure of the switch, typically in the closed position.
With Cenfire, the fatigue problem is solved through the core design.
Though specified to withstand one billion cycles, Cenfire’s platform has been successfully tested to as many as 6.5 billion cycles.
60x Longer Life
>10X more reliable than other technologies
Cenfire’s platform can carry over one amp of current across a 1 mm x 1 mm component – ten times the capacity of competing technologies and coming close to the current density of a plain copper wire.
This is possible due to Cenfire’s use of silicon in both the substrate and the armature’s supporting structure.
>10x More Current
1A/mm²
