A reflective RF switch presents a high-reflection condition at an unselected port; an absorptive or terminated switch routes that port to an internal load intended to approximate the system impedance over a stated band. The selected route may look similar while the off-port interaction is very different.
Absorptive behavior can reduce source pulling, stored-energy transients and filter or amplifier interaction, but the internal termination has frequency and power limits. Reflective behavior may be acceptable when the connected source is disabled, externally terminated or designed for the mismatch. All-off and power-up states must be stated separately.
Provide off-port impedance or return-loss limits, frequency, incident and reflected power, source and load stability constraints, switching sequence and required all-off state. Verify the unselected ports directly; do not infer termination from the word 'switch'.