Low resistance, high dynamic range reconfigurable phase change switch for radio frequency applications

A GeTe reconfigurable phase change switch for radio frequency applications is presented. Low ON state resistance (180 Ω) and large dynamic range (7×103 X) were achieved through low resistance electrode design and high current. A partial crystallization and partial reamorphization model is proposed to explain the differences between the measured and calculated device ON (set) and OFF (reset) state resistances, respectively. The dependency between ON state resistance and reset current was estimated using a first order thermal design in steady state which suggests lower reset current by choosing materials of lower melting temperature and structures with better thermal isolation.