Bistable RF Switches Using Ge2Sb2Te5 Phase Change Material

This paper presents the design, fabrication and characterization of Ge2Te2Sb5-based phase change material RF switches. The material exhibits non-volatile reversible amorphous to crystalline phase change with resistivity changes up to 105 orders of magnitude. Being non-volatile, these RF switches do not require permanent bias to be maintained in a given state. We present the design of a 4-terminal RF switch integrating an indirect heating system to induce amorphous to crystalline phase change of the material. The measured figure of merit FOM (R(on)xC(off)) is about 450 fs, which is comparable to FOM obtained for SOI and SOS technologies, without permanent bias.