Optomechanical microswitch behavior in a space radiation environment

The effect of total ionizing dose on a commercial optomechanical microswitch has been studied in this paper. One microswitch was irradiated using a [Co.sup.60][gamma]-ray radiation source at a dose rate of 330 rad/h to total dose up to 22.5 krad (Si). Little effect was observed in this device which is consistent with the technological design that does not contain insulators. Index Terms--Gamma radiation, MOEMS, optical microswitches, space environment, telecommunications satellite payloads.