Open AccessPhased antenna arrays based on non‐volatile resistive switches
Author(s) -
Dragoman Mircea,
Aldrigo Martino,
Adam Gina
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
iet microwaves, antennas and propagation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.555
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1751-8733
pISSN - 1751-8725
DOI - 10.1049/iet-map.2016.0974
Subject(s) - phased array , resistive touchscreen , antenna (radio) , dipole antenna , materials science , electrical engineering , microelectromechanical systems , beam steering , loop antenna , antenna array , optoelectronics , electronic engineering , engineering , antenna factor
The authors propose a phased patch‐antenna array working in the X‐band (i.e. 8–12 GHz), in which the beam‐steering is obtained by means of two‐terminal non‐volatile resistive switches (or memristors). These novel components have a simple design and a tunable resistance (suitable for electromagnetic matching), and could replace other volatile switching‐type devices (such as PIN diodes, MEMS, etc.), providing good radiofrequency (RF) performance and low‐power consumption. They also offer the advantage of non‐volatility state, i.e. the controlling signals do not need to be applied continuously, which entails a decrease of the power consumption and a reduction of antenna's sensitivity to power outages. The paper models a simple non‐volatile resistive switch working in the microwave and millimetre frequency bands, then simulates, based on these switches, a frequency‐tunable dipole antenna and a double patch‐antenna array with beam steering capabilities. The authors obtained a multi‐resonant array, which exhibits a maximum steering angle of ±28°. They also report the fabrication and characterisation of a resistive switch, based on TiO 2− x that shows promising performance for high endurance and retention, with low insertion loss and high isolation. The results of this study represent the starting point for a new family of microwave tunable devices.