Out-of-Plane and Inline RF Switches based on Ge2Sb2Te5 Phase-Change Material

Aurelian Crunteanu (1) , Amine Mennai (1) , Cyril Guines (1) , Damien Passerieux (1) , Pierre Blondy (1)

1 XLIM-MINACOM - MINACOM

We present the fabrication and characterization of novel RF switches based on Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) phase change material. Such ohmic devices show non-volatile switching with resistivity changes up to 105 as the material is transforming between the amorphous and the crystalline state by either applying a voltage pulse or direct heating. We investigated the RF properties and power handling of such devices in two configurations: out-of-plane (GST material between two electrodes) and inline switches. For a directly heated 10-mu length inline switch we measured an on-state resistance of 7 Ohm, and an off-state capacitance and resistance of 13.7 fF and 6.47 MOhm, respectively, resulting in a cut-off frequency of ~1.6 THz.

Mots clés: Ge2Sb2Te5; high linearity; phase-change materials; RF switches

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]; Electromagnétisme; Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]; Micro et nanotechnologies/Microélectronique; Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]; Matériaux

Aurelian Crunteanu, Amine Mennai, Cyril Guines, Damien Passerieux, Pierre Blondy. Out-of-Plane and Inline RF Switches based on Ge2Sb2Te5 Phase-Change Material. International Microwave Symposium 2014, IEEE-MTT, Mar 2014, Tampa Bay, FL, United States. paper TU4A-2. ⟨hal-00956911⟩