Liquid-Metal-Based Reconfigurable Components for RF Front Ends

Dang, Jonathan H.; Gough, Ryan C.; Morishita, Andy M.; Ohta, Aaron T.; Shiroma, Wayne A.

doi:10.1109/mpot.2014.2360938

Cited by 19 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Introduction: Replacing conventional solid metal with conductive fluids (such as water and liquid metal (LM)) enables new functionalities for various RF components [1][2][3]. Particularly, electrochemically controlled capillarity (ECC)-based LM devices, such as a monopole antenna, present a larger tunable range of states and higher linearity compared to traditional tunable semiconductor components [4,5].…”

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confidence: 99%

Investigation of biasing conditions and energy dissipation in electrochemically controlled capillarity liquid metal electronics

et al. 2020

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This Letter investigates the trade-off between the biasing conditions (biasing current and electrolyte concentration) and energy dissipation in high-frequency liquid metal electronics using electrochemically controlled capillarity (ECC). ECC can control the interfacial tension of liquid metal via DC current as a method to move the metal in capillaries. It requires a conductive electrolyte to facilitate the electrochemical reactions. Here, the authors measure the withdrawal rate of liquid metal under different biasing currents and electrolyte concentrations. The results indicate that a larger biasing current and a more concentrated electrolyte induce a faster withdrawal motion of liquid metal. This Letter also explores the change of antenna efficiency when different electrolyte concentrations are chosen. The selection of electrolyte concentration for high-antenna efficiency conflicts with the need for fast withdrawal speed and low-DC power consumption of the liquid metal system, therefore requiring a balance among the various parameters when ECC is applied in practical liquid metal electronics.

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confidence: 99%

Investigation of biasing conditions and energy dissipation in electrochemically controlled capillarity liquid metal electronics

et al. 2020

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“…Introduction: Liquid-metal-based circuits have recently emerged as an innovative electronics technology for realising flexible sensors [1], stretchable electronics [2], and reconfigurable devices [3,4]. In these types of applications, the possibility of manipulating a roomtemperature liquid metal into a desired shape opens up a wide breadth of flexible applications.…”

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confidence: 99%

Out‐of‐plane continuous electrowetting actuation of liquid metal

et al. 2017

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“…The recent development of a non-toxic liquid metal known as Galinstan has led to significant investigation into reconfigurable liquid metal microwave circuits. Galinstan is reported to have the following characteristics [28][29][30]:…”

Section: Microfluidics Tuningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…CEW involves immersing the Galinstan in a channel with an electrolyte such as HCL or NaOH as shown in Figure 2.6 [28]. Applying a bias down this channel causes the liquid metal to move towards the positive electrode.…”

Section: Pdms Teflon Solutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Field Programmable Microwave Substrate

Jess¹

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This thesis describes a research project to create a programmable microwave circuit having a similar level of programmability as that of a field programmable gate array (FPGA). The result of the thesis is the realization of the first ever practical low-loss programmable microwave waveguides. Since waveguides are a key component in any microwave circuit, this allows for the realization of a broad range of microwave functions with a single circuit. The programmable waveguides are implemented in what is referred to as a field programmable microwave substrate. The programmable substrate is implemented using metamaterials between two parallel metal plates. Between the metal plates are electrically small unit cells that consist of metal structuring that connects with active components not contained between the metal plates (i.e. above or below the metal plates). Each of these unit cells can be programmed to have a range of positive dielectric constants or a negative dielectric constant. Programming a positive dielectric constant core and negative dielectric constant sidewall yields a structure that can be described using the slab waveguide equations. This allows for waveguides to be dynamically programmed within the field programmable microwave substrate.The theory required to design low-loss metamaterials is presented and used to realize two prototype circuits. The first implementation is on an FR4 substrate and is used to demonstrate low-loss waveguides, amplifiers and oscillators from 0.9 − ii 3GH z. The other field programmable microwave substrate is implemented in low temperature co-fired ceramic and uses custom designed CMOS chips. This version is used to demonstrate miniaturization. The losses of the waveguides are high, but this is mainly due to manufacturing capabilities of the process used. Low-loss small field programmable microwave substrates should be possible to implement with the use of higher performance components and more sophisticated manufacturing processes.iii First, I would like to thank my thesis supervisors Barry Syrett and Langis Roy for their support and allowing me the freedom to pursue my own interests and curiosities. I would also like to thank the support staff in the department of electronics;notably, Nagui Mikhail, Scott Bruce, Blazenka Power, Anna Lee, and Sylvie Beekmans. I would also like to thank Professor Steve McGarry for many practical conversations and assistance. There are numerous fellow grad students that I would like to thank. Tyler Ross and Che Knisely were excellent for chatting with on technical issues and great for helping solve problems. Thomas Pepler provided a significant amount of assistance implementing the digital CMOS circuit for one of my designs.Ryan Griffin helped debug some circuits during testing. A general thanks goes out to the graduate students in the blue room who have made doing a PhD a pleasant experience. Finally, I would like to thank my family and wonderful girlfriend Jessica Lynch for all their support over the years.iv

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Liquid-Metal-Based Reconfigurable Components for RF Front Ends

Cited by 19 publications

References 47 publications

Investigation of biasing conditions and energy dissipation in electrochemically controlled capillarity liquid metal electronics

Investigation of biasing conditions and energy dissipation in electrochemically controlled capillarity liquid metal electronics

Out‐of‐plane continuous electrowetting actuation of liquid metal

The Field Programmable Microwave Substrate

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