Characterization of Nonvolatile Switches Based on 2-D Multilayered hBN Memristors for High-Frequency Applications

Abstract

RF/microwave systems with large number of elements usually require switching elements with very small footprint, but providing very good electrical performance, low switching times, and good power-handling capabilities. In this sense, nonvolatile switches based on 2-D materials are emerging as a very suitable alternative to CMOS or MEMS-based technologies, mainly due to the capability of keeping a certain state with no energy consumption. In this article, different switches have been designed and fabricated using a multilayered structure based on 18 2-D hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) layers on three different substrates, high-resistivity silicon, quartz, and polycrystaline CVD diamond. The proposed device has been characterized in a frequency range up to 26.5 GHz for these three substrates. The ON-state resistance and off-state capacitance have been extracted from experimental data using an equivalent electric model being $28~\Omega $ and 22 fF, leading to insertion losses (ILs) better than 2.5 dB in case of CVD diamond, and isolation better than 10 dB in case of quartz, for the on- and off-states, respectively.