There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

Recently, non-volatile resistance switching or memristor (equivalently, atomristor in atomic layers) effect was discovered in transitional metal dichalcogenides (TMD) vertical devices. Owing to the monolayer-thin transport and high crystalline quality, ON-state resistances below 10 Ω are achievable, making MoS2 atomristors suitable as energy-efficient radio-frequency (RF) switches. MoS2 RF switches afford zero-hold voltage, hence, zero-static power dissipation, overcoming the limitation of transistor and mechanical switches. Furthermore, MoS2 switches are fully electronic and can be integrated on arbitrary substrates unlike phase-change RF switches. High-frequency results reveal that a key figure of merit, the cutoff frequency (fc), is about 10 THz for sub-μm2 switches with favorable scaling that can afford fc above 100 THz for nanoscale devices, exceeding the performance of contemporary switches that suffer from an area-invariant scaling. These results indicate a new electronic application of TMDs as non-volatile switches for communication platforms, including mobile systems, low-power internet-of-things, and THz beam steering.

/pdf/zero-static-power-radio-frequency-switches-based-on-mos-2-4tds6x1k4e.pdf

Zero-static power radio-frequency switches based on MoS 2 atomristors.

Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) has a large bandgap, high phonon energies and an atomically smooth surface absent of dangling bonds. As a result, it has been widely used as a dielectric to investigate electron physics in two-dimensional heterostructures and as a dielectric in the fabrication of two-dimensional transistors and optoelectronic devices. Here we show that hBN can be used to create analogue switches for applications in communication systems across radio, 5G and terahertz frequencies. Our approach relies on the non-volatile resistive switching capabilities of atomically thin hBN. The switches are composed of monolayer hBN sandwiched between two gold electrodes and exhibit a cutoff-frequency figure of merit of around 129 THz with a low insertion loss (≤0.5 dB) and high isolation (≥10 dB) from 0.1 to 200 GHz, as well as a high power handling (around 20 dBm) and nanosecond switching speeds, metrics that are superior to those of existing solid-state switches. Furthermore, the switches are 50 times more efficient than other non-volatile switches in terms of a d.c. energy-consumption metric, which is an important consideration for ubiquitous mobile systems. We also illustrate the potential of the hBN switches in a communication system with an 8.5 Gbit s–1 data transmission rate at 100 GHz with a low bit error rate under 10−10. Resistive switching in atomically thin sheets of hexagonal boron nitride can be used to create analogue switches for applications in communication systems across radio, 5G and terahertz frequencies.

Analogue switches made from boron nitride monolayers for application in 5G and terahertz communication systems

This work presents a Ku-band microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) based 5-bit phase shifter using dc contact single-pole-four-throw (SP4T) and single-pole-double-throw switches. The design is implemented using a coplanar waveguide transmission line. Two individual 2-bit phase shifters and one 1-bit phase shifter are cascaded to develop the complete 5-bit phase shifter. The phase shifters are fabricated on 635- $\mu{\hbox{m}}$ alumina substrate using a surface micromachining process. The 5-bit phase shifter demonstrates an average insertion loss of 2.65 dB in the 13–18-GHz band with a return loss better than 22 dB and average phase error less than 0.68 $^{\circ}$ at 17 GHz. Total area of the fabricated 5-bit phase shifter is ${\hbox{4.7}}\times {\hbox{2.8}}\ {\hbox{mm}}^{2}$ . The reliability of the single-pole-single-throw and SP4T switches show more than 10 million cycles with an RF power of 0.1–2 W. Furthermore, reliability of the MEMS phase shifter is extensively investigated and presented with cold and hot switched conditions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported MEMS 5-bit phase shifter in the literature that has undergone different reliability and qualification testing including 3-axis vibrations.

Reliability Analysis of Ku-Band 5-bit Phase Shifters Using MEMS SP4T and SPDT Switches

Our goal was to develop a single-pole four-throw (SP4T) radio frequency microelectromechanical system (RF MEMS) switch for band selection in a multi-band, multi-mode, front-end module of a wireless transceiver system. The SP4T RF MEMS switch was based on an arrangement of four single-pole single-throw (SPST) RF MEMS switches. The SP4T RF MEMS switch was driven by a double stop (DS) comb drive, with a lateral resistive contact, and composed of single crystalline silicon (SCS) on glass. A large contact force at a low-drive voltage was achieved by electrostatic actuation of the DS comb drive. Good RF characteristics were achieved by the large contact force and the lateral resistive Au-to-Au contact. Mechanical reliability was achieved by using SCS which has no residual stress as a structure material. The developed SP4T RF MEMS switch has a drive voltage of 15 V, an insertion loss below 0.31 dB at 6 GHz after more than one million cycles under a 10 mW signal, a return loss above 20 dB and an isolation value above 36 dB.

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0960-1317/19/3/035011/pdf

A low-loss, single-pole, four-throw RF MEMS switch driven by a double stop comb drive

Radio frequency (RF) microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have been pursued for more than a decade as a solution of high-performance on-chip fixed, tunable and reconfigurable circuits. This paper reviews our research work on RF MEMS switches and switching circuits in the past five years. The research work first concentrates on the development of lateral DC-contact switches and capacitive shunt switches. Low insertion loss, high isolation and wide frequency band have been achieved for the two types of switches; then the switches have been integrated with transmission lines to achieve different switching circuits, such as single-pole-multi-throw (SPMT) switching circuits, tunable band-pass filter, tunable band-stop filter and reconfigurable filter circuits. Substrate transfer process and surface planarization process are used to fabricate the above mentioned devices and circuits. The advantages of these two fabrication processes provide great flexibility in developing different types of RF MEMS switches and circuits. The ultimate target is to produce more powerful and sophisticated wireless appliances operating in handsets, base stations, and satellites with low power consumption and cost.

/pdf/rf-mems-switches-and-integrated-switching-circuits-2vsihyk7su.pdf

A. B. Yu

Papers

RF MEMS Switches and Integrated Switching Circuits