Recent advances in fabrication and characterization of GeTe-based phase-change RF switches and MMICs

Abstract

Recent progress in germanium telluride (GeTe) based phase-change RF switch technology development has resulted in switches with tens of thousands of switching cycles and μs-level switching times. A highly compact (0.33 × 0.61mm) series-shunt, single-pole double-throw (SPDT) switch based on 3 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">rd</sup> generation inline phase change switch (IPCS) devices was built and characterized. The SPDT switch exhibited less than 1.1dB insertion loss and greater than 39dB isolation in the DC-65GHz bandwidth. It achieved <2μs settling time for RF switching between the throws. In addition, 30,000 switching operations were demonstrated with <0.05dB variation in insertion loss and < 2dB variation in isolation.