Reconfigurable Low-Voltage Hexagonal Boron Nitride Nonvolatile Switches for Millimeter-Wave Wireless Communications

Abstract

Recently, nonvolatile resistive switching memory effects have been actively studied in two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides and boron nitrides to advance future memory and neuromorphic computing applications. Here, we report on radiofrequency (RF) switches utilizing hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) memristors that afford operation in the millimeter-wave (mmWave) range. Notably, silver (Ag) electrodes to h-BN offer outstanding nonvolatile bipolar resistive switching characteristics with a high ON/OFF switching ratio of 1011 and low switching voltage below 0.34 V. In addition, the switch exhibits a low insertion loss of 0.50 dB and high isolation of 23 dB across the D-band spectrum (110 to 170 GHz). Furthermore, the S 21 insertion loss can be tuned through five orders of current compliance magnitude, which increases the application prospects for atomic switches. These results can enable the switch to become a key component for future reconfigurable wireless and 6G communication systems.

Static and Small-Signal Modeling of Radiofrequency Hexagonal Boron Nitride Switches

“…The cross-section of an hexagonal borond nitride RF switches, similar as the ones demonstrated in the literature [7], [9], [11], is shown in Fig. 2(a).…”

“…The return loss, an important factor for RF switches [24], not reported experimentally for any of the devices under study [6], [7], has been calculated here by using Eq. (11). Fig.…”

Wet‐Etching‐Boosted Charge Storage in 1D Nitride‐Based Systems for Imitating Biological Synaptic Behaviors

“…The R HRS / R LRS ratio can be tuned as the current compliance changes with high dynamic ranges, as reported for the realization of programmable memresistors. [ 39,40 ] LRS modulation is possible for more than one order of magnitude, as shown in Figure 3h, showing the multilevel memory capability of the GaN NW device by tuning the compliance currents. To investigate the data loss performance in the ON and OFF states, the retention was measured at a reading voltage of 0.5 V (Figure 3i).…”

Memristor-based neural networks: a bridge from device to artificial intelligence

“…Yang et al reported radiofrequency switching in the millimeter-wave range using a hexagonal boron nitride memristor with the Ag/h-BN/Ag structure. 119 This memristor showed excellent nonvolatile bipolar resistanceswitching characteristics, including a high on/off ratio (B10 11 ) and a low switching voltage (o0.34 V). It also exhibited pulseswitching characteristics when set at high speed with a very low power of 0.23 W and energy consumption of 1.2 nJ.…”