Chalcogenide Phase Change Material GeTe Based Inline RF SPST Series and Shunt Switches

Compact inline chalcogenide radio-frequency (RF) phase-change material (PCM) switches utilizing germanium telluride (GeTe) in series and shunt configurations are reported in this paper. Phase transition in PCM has been achieved by electrically isolated embedded micro-heaters. RF-PCM switches presented exhibit ON-state resistance of 2.4 ohm and OFF-state capacitance of 8.5 fF. The estimated cut-off frequency (Fco) is 7.8 THz, which is 10 times higher than state-of-the-art RF CMOS switches. The RF-PCM series and shunt switches are simulated and measured, demonstrating ON-state insertion loss less than 0.3 dB and 0.2 dB and OFF-state isolation higher than 20 dB and 36 dB over DC-26 GHz frequency range respectively.