A radio-frequency microelectromechanical system (RF MEMS) is a microelectromechanical system with electronic components comprising moving sub-millimeter-sized parts that provide radio-frequency (RF) functionality. RF functionality can be implemented using a variety of RF technologies. Besides RF MEMS technology, III-V compound semiconductor (GaAs, GaN, InP, InSb), ferrite, ferroelectric, silicon-based semiconductor (RF CMOS, SiC and SiGe), and vacuum tube technology are available to the RF designer. Each of the RF technologies offers a distinct trade-off between cost, frequency, gain, large-scale integration, lifetime, linearity, noise figure, packaging, power handling, power consumption, reliability, ruggedness, size, supply voltage, switching time and weight.
