Editing Metal contact switch (section)

===Contact design===
[[Cherry miniature open]] "mousetrap" switches have flat contacts with a large surface area. This permits a high level of current to pass through them. When these switches were adapted for use in keyboards, the flat contacts were replaced with [[gold crosspoint]] contacts suitable for low-energy circuits. Subsequently, many keyboard switch types used some form of high-pressure contact arrangement where only a very small part of each contact touches the opposing contact. These can take the form of "crossbar" or "crosspoint" contacts where a pair of cylinders or prisms are arranged at right angles, such as in [[Cherry MX]] and [[MEI T-5 series]] switches. They can also take the form of curved and raised surfaces, such as found in many [[four-tab clone]] switches.

Contact form affects bounce time. Non-illuminated [[RAFI RS 76 M]] switches have a 5 ms bounce time using gold crosspoint contacts, while the illuminated version uses flat metal contacts that, while still made of gold alloy, have double that bounce time at 10 ms.