Menlo Microsystems’ (Menlo Micro) MEMS-based circuit-breaker modules demonstrated their ability to support high-voltage, megawatt-scale applications under challenging real-world conditions during field trials conducted as part of the U.S. Navy’s 10 MW Advanced Circuit Breaker Development Program.

The trials evaluated a 1,000-V, 500-A panel system built from four of Menlo’s 1,000-V/125-A MEMS switch modules, under challenging real-world conditions. They demonstrated that the system’s scalable architecture can be successfully applied to a wider range of defense, data center, and industrial power applications.

Unlike semiconductor-based switches, Menlo’s compact chip-size arrays of metal-to-metal MEMS switches enable virtually lossless switching with minimal heat generation and support very high voltages. Electronic Design provided a closer look at the technology in the April 2025 edition of our PowerBites blog. You can also see a demonstration of these capabilities in a demonstration that editor Alix Paultre recorded at PCIM 2026 for our Tech Exchange video series (see video below).

The company said that its MEMS-based switching technology delivers higher power density, simplified thermal management, and reduced system complexity, providing a unique advantage for modern power systems where efficiency, size, and reliability are critical.

By reliably delivering much lower losses, and higher power density, the modules showed how the new switch technology applied to next-generation power control and protection systems eliminate the need for bulky heatsinks and liquid-cooling systems.