Gigahertz Large-Area-Electronics RF Switch and its Application to Reconfigurable Antennas

Abstract

Future IoT and 5G networks place significant new demands on antennas, where unguided EM waves are generated to access densely distributed sensor nodes. Reconfigurable antennas, capable of changing key parameters (directionality, frequency response, polarization), are starting to play a critical role, but are limited by the assembly of discrete RF components across the large antenna apertures typically desired. This work presents the design, and use in a reconfigurable antenna, of RF switches for 2.4 GHz-band wireless applications, based on large-area-electronics (LAE) zinc-oxide (ZnO) thin-film transistors (TFTs). ZnO TFTs can be fabricated monolithically on meter-scale and flexible substrates, as done in flat panel displays, but where their frequencies have been limited to 10's of MHz. RF switch performance is enabled for ZnO TFTs (fabricated at flex-compatible temp. <; 200°C) via self-aligned processing, thick-composite gate electrodes, breakdown-safe biasing, and resonant operation, leveraging high-Q LAE inductors. Reconfigurable antenna radiation patterns are demonstrated.