Relays and Switches: Mechanical or Solid State? (Download)

Read this article online.

The advent of the touchscreen/capacitive sensing has many engineers wondering: Is the mechanical switch obsolete? How about the mechanical relay? There are many good reasons for using solid-state solutions, but the mechanical types still have their place and may be the right solution. The myth that mechanical devices are inherently unreliable is frequently overstated.

Just a few parameters will drive most of the decision-making regarding part selection. Learn when to choose solid state versus mechanical, and what parameters to observe when optimizing your designs for cost, reliability, and performance using mechanical variants.