Radiofrequency Switches Based on Emerging Resistive Memory Technologies - A Survey

High-performance radio frequency (RF) switches play a critical role in allowing radio transceivers to provide access to shared resources such as antennas. They are important, especially in reconfigurable radios, where the connections within and between the different blocks (e.g., filters, amplifiers, and mixers) can be changed to customize and compose RF functions for distinct frequency bands. To realize this potential, new concepts for RF switch devices that can be integrated with standard transistor process, while providing better transmission performance, lower power consumption, smaller area, and lower actuation voltage than current RF switch technologies [e.g., field-effect transistors (FETs) and microelectromechanical systems (MEMSs)] are needed. Recently, RF switches based on emerging memory technologies, such as conductive-bridge RAM (CBRAM), resistive RAM (ReRAM), and phase-change memory (PCM), have been proposed. These nanoscale switches present major advantages, for example, high cutoff frequency, nonvolatility, fast and low-energy switching, small footprint, and compatibility with back-end-of-line (BEOL) of the standard CMOS process, thus placing them as possible contenders for high-performance RF switches. This article surveys high-performance RF switches based on resistive memories, comparing them with mature RF switching technologies like RF MEMS, p-i-n diodes, and FETs. We discuss the physical mechanisms, device structure, performance characteristics, and applications of these novel RF switches. Furthermore, we examine the prospects and future research directions of these technologies that could lead to their adoption at the industrial level.