Characteristics and applications of reed Contacts

A comprehensive review paper which includes a detailed discussion on design criteria. The reliability is much better than that previously associated with mechanical devices, typically a unit operating at 24 V d.c. current 1A, operated for 14 ×106 times before any failures were noted Additionally satisfactory operation up to and beyond 50 Mc/s is possible. This compares favourably with transistors particularly when the additional components required to temperature stabilise the latter are included.