In this work, the bridge imaging and the reliability of surface-micromachined capacitive RF MEMS switches in III-V technology are presented. A low cost scanning technique allowed us to image the shape of the moveable bridge with a micrometer spatial resolution, thus quantitatively valuating its lowering as a function of the applied voltage. The reliability of the switches was tested under the application of different unipolar and bipolar voltage waveforms, showing that a significant improvement of the switch operation and lifetime can be achieved by applying high frequency bipolar square pulses with suitable durations. © 2013 CMP.