Phase change materials are attractive candidates for use in ohmic switches as they can be thermally transitioned between amorphous and crystalline states, showing several orders of magnitude change in resistivity. Phase change switches are fast, small form factor, and can be readily integrated with MEMS and CMOS electronics. As such, they have a great potential for implementing next-generation high-speed reconfigurable RF modules. In this paper, we report on the RF properties of germanium tellurium, a PC material, and its use in RF switching applications. Intrinsic resistance and capacitance at the ON (crystalline) and OFF (amorphous) states of a directly heated switch are compared and characterized. Other properties such as phase transition conditions, insertion loss, return loss, and power handling capability of the switch are also measured and analyzed.
This paper reports on the first demonstration of an ultra-high resolution (~371 pW/Hz 1/2 ) uncooled infrared (IR) detector based on a high frequency (136 MHz) Aluminum Nitride (AlN) piezoelectric resonant micro-plate completely released from the substrate and supported by two nanoscale Platinum (Pt) anchors. For the first time, fully metallic tethers were employed to support the freestanding vibrating body of a piezoelectric resonator and provide electrical connection to it (the device anchors are conventionally defined in the piezoelectric layer). Such innovative design, with minimum anchor cross section, enabled the implementation of an uncooled resonant thermal detector with ultra-high thermal resistance (~10 5 K/W) and electromechanical performance (mechanical quality factor, Q M ≈3133 in air, and electromechanical coupling coefficient, k t 2 ≈1.86%). Such unique combination of high sensitivity (~2.1 Hz/nW), low noise performance (~0.78 Hz/Hz 1/2 ) and high resonator figure of merit (FOM=k t 2 ⋅Q≈58.3) resulted in the first complete and compelling prototype of a low power (~11 mW) and high performance MEMS-CMOS resonant uncooled IR detector with detection limit pushed in ~100s pW/Hz 1/2 range.
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