AI is not only a prime example of technological advancement itself, but it also accelerates the pace of change across multiple industries by helping develop new technologies while enabling existing ones to perform more effectively. However, there is at least one area of industry that historically has not kept up with those advances, and that is electromechanical devices, especially relays and circuit breakers. There, very little change has been seen until now, creating an opportunity to improve outcomes for both designers and end users.
Relays and circuit breakers: A long history of incremental change
It is nearly two centuries since Joseph Henry first developed the electromechanical relay, and today’s devices operate on much the same principles. Relays are still bulky and need a constant current to keep them in their actuated state. Like all other mechanical devices, they are prone to wear and tear with frequent use, and their switching speed is very limited, especially in the context of today’s electronic systems. The switching itself can generate electrical noise that can interfere with sensitive signals and be prone to bouncing and arcing.
The only real notable advancement since the invention of the electromechanical relay came over half a century ago, when Crydom Controls invented the solid-state relay in 1971. Solid-state relays are electronic switches that use semiconductor materials instead of mechanical contacts used in electromechanical relays. These devices eliminated some of the drawbacks of their electromechanical counterparts—they suffered no wear and tear, generated no noise, didn’t exhibit arcing, and they actuated much faster.
However, solid-state relays still suffer from significant downsides, including the inherent resistance that is found in semiconductor materials, making them inefficient and leading to the generation of unwanted heat. That heat then needs to be managed, usually by incorporating bulky heat sinks into the design. This makes the overall solution substantially larger and much heavier than it needs to be. Finally, the actuation of solid-state relays needs a constant current, which leads to greater energy consumption.
View All Time for a switch
MEMS-based switching technology is an example of a recent development in switching technology that provides an alternative to traditional electromechanical and solid‑state relays. MEMS switches offer improvements in performance, reliability, and efficiency in power protection, control, and distribution systems. These tiny, integrated, state-of-the-art devices combine the near-zero resistance of metal‑contact relays with the fast-switching operation and durability associated with solid‑state designs.
They also boast significantly reduced power consumption, a compact form factor, and minimal heat generation that eliminates the need for heat sinks or other thermal management. This combination of speed, efficiency, size, and durability makes the technology suitable for adoption in high-growth markets**.** For end customers, this translates into lower operating costs through reduced power consumption, improved system uptime and reliability, plus greater efficiency from a more compact overall design.
MEMS‑based structures combine mechanical and electrical components integrated at a microscopic scale. Each of their multiple small contact elements can handle approximately 200 mA and withstand surges or spikes of around 200 V. By arranging the elements in series or parallel, the device can be easily scaled to achieve higher voltage standoff values or increased current handling capability. This simple and modular scalability supports rapid application across multiple market segments, from data centers to industrial automation.
The contacts in MEMS switches are made from materials designed to minimize mechanical stress and therefore extend operational lifetime; this can extend to billions of cycles, eliminating the need to consider serviceability during system design. This is further enhanced due to the devices being hermetically sealed, making them air, gas, and moisture ingress resistant.
Actuation is electrostatic rather than current‑driven, using a 90 V charge to move a beam and close the contacts. Because this process requires minimal current, it reduces energy consumption and avoids arcing, which can degrade contacts over time.
Switching speed, an important parameter in many designs containing highly sensitive components, is in the order of microseconds, allowing rapid response to faults and improving circuit protection capabilities.
Like electromechanical relays, MEMS switches have metal-based contacts, meaning a wide and high operating temperature is possible with only negligible changes in resistance. This contrasts with semiconductor‑based solid‑state relays, where resistance rises significantly with temperature, producing additional waste heat that compounds thermal challenges. This temperature variability necessitates major thermal overdesign, driving up system size and cost substantially.
End-use applications: from data center to industrial automation
MEMS switches deliver higher efficiency, simpler system architectures, and excellent surge robustness in a scalable platform whose performance improves as power levels increase, precisely the operating regime in which SiC JFET solutions tend to be over-engineered and cost inefficient. Bi-directional current flow and ultra-low, temperature-stable on-resistance enable higher efficiency while eliminating the need for complex thermal compensation or parallel device arrays. The ability to support high steady-state load currents allows straightforward scalability, while inherent tolerance to voltage and current surge events improves robustness, reducing the number of devices required in parallel and increasing overall energy dissipation capability.
MEMS-based switches therefore provide a superior-performing alternative to silicon-based MOSFETs and JFETs across multiple power-control applications, including eFuses for power protection and control of GPUs and CPUs in AI data center racks, DC breakers for data center energy-storage systems, including battery backup units, AC breakers for rack-level and industrial applications, and series disconnect switch implementations. Their compact size, fast response, high efficiency, and robustness also make them well suited to power modules used to protect robots and other automation equipment in factories, as well as safeguarding electrical systems in enterprise buildings and residential installations. As applicability continues to expand across high-growth, technology-driven sectors, MEMS switching opens opportunities previously constrained by the limitations of electromechanical and solid-state relay technologies.
Scaling protection in high-power systems
By developing proprietary materials science and refining fabrication processes and packaging, the performance of MEMS switches can be enhanced further. This enables continued improvements in power handling, size, efficiency, and loss reduction (for example, in advanced circuit breakers), thereby extending applicability to increasingly demanding systems and strengthening confidence in adoption versus technologies that have been established for decades, and in some cases, centuries.
In particular, the ability to combine high-voltage blocking, low on-resistance, fast switching, and surge robustness in a compact platform directly addresses the growing power density challenges in AI infrastructure, energy storage systems, and industrial electrification. As system-level power continues to scale, these characteristics become increasingly critical for reducing footprint, improving efficiency, and enabling next-generation architectures, while providing power protection, control, and distribution in high-power systems.
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