membrane switches - the super-switch of tomorrow?

membrane switches elektor april 1983 The membrane switch — or foil switch as it is becoming popularly known — is almost too good to be true. The switch is both reliable and inexpensive. These two factors coupled with its "science fiction" appearance can provide the basis for a very elegant and economical keyboard that the more conventional switch cannot hope to match. membrane switches the super-switch of tomorrow? If Asimov had been a hardware designer instead of a science fiction writer we would have had the membrane switch about twenty years ago! They really do have the aura of space-age technology. The most striking point about them is their appearance, they are, quite literally, wafer thin. This fact, paradoxically, is a disadvantage from the psychological point of view, they just don"t look as if they can possibly be very reliable — but they are! From the aesthetic point of view, a key- board consisting of membrane switches has no equal. They can be any colour you like...