US 2026/0303067 A1 · TRANSITION MATERIAL-BASED NON-BLOCKING MULTIPLE STATE, MULTIPORT RADIO FREQUENCY SWITCH

Abstract

The technology described herein is directed towards a phase change material-based (e.g., metal-insulator transition material such as vanadium dioxide) radio frequency (RF) multiport switch device. In various implementations, the multiport switch has five, six or ten phase change material-based switches configured between the device's ports, in which the phase change material switches are controlled to be in either conductive or nonconductive states, thereby respectively coupling or decoupling any port to any other port, e.g., in three different operational states. A controller can selectively output the voltage to heat the material in the respective junctions of respective switches to independently determine their respective conductive or nonconductive states as needed for a specified operational state. In one implementation, the switch design is symmetrical. The example vanadium dioxide material switch described herein provides high switching speeds, low insertion loss, good isolation and is relatively straightforward to fabricate.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A device, comprising:

radio frequency (RF) ports;
and
an RF multiport switch, comprising:
respective selective metal-insulator-transition material switches coupled to the RF ports, and
a controllable heater network comprising respective heating elements that transfer heat to the respective selective metal-insulator-transition material switches, the controllable heater network being selectively controlled to output heat energy to operate the RF multiport switch in:
a first operational state in which a first switch of the respective selective metal-insulator-transition material switches is controlled to be to a conductive state that electrically couples a first RF port of the RF ports to a second RF port of the RF ports;
a second operational state in which a first switch of the respective selective metal-insulator-transition material switches is controlled to be to a conductive state that electrically couples the first RF port to a third RF port of the RF ports;
or
a third operational state in which a first switch of the respective selective metal-insulator-transition material switches is controlled to be to a conductive state that electrically couples the first RF port to a fourth RF port of the RF ports.

6 more elements

A method, comprising:

electrically coupling, by a system comprising at least one processor, a first radio frequency (RF) port of an RF switch junction matrix to at least one of:
a second selectable RF port, a third selectable RF port, or a fourth selectable RF port, wherein the first RF port is electrically coupled to the at least one of the second selectable RF port, the third selectable RF port, or the fourth selectable RF port via metal-insulator-transition material switch junctions between the first RF port and the one or more selectable RF ports, the electrically coupling comprising:
determining whether to electrically couple the first RF port to the second RF port, to the third RF port, or the fourth RF port;
in response to determining that the first RF port is to be coupled to the second RF port, controlling a heater network to set a first metal-insulator-transition material switch set to a first conductive state that electrically couples the first RF port to the second RF port;
in response to determining that the first RF port is to be coupled to the third RF port, controlling the heater network to set a second metal-insulator-transition material switch set to a second conductive state that electrically couples the first RF port to the third RF port;
and
in response to determining that the first RF port is to be coupled to the fourth RF port, controlling the heater network to set a third metal-insulator-transition material switch set to a third conductive state that electrically couples the first RF port to the fourth RF port.

4 more elements

A multiport switch, comprising:

a group of radio frequency (RF) ports comprising a first port, a second port, a third port, and a fourth port;
respective metal-insulator-transition material switch pairs corresponding to the group of RF ports, the respective metal-insulator-transition material switch pairs comprising:
a first switch pair comprising a first switch and a ninth switch,
a second switch pair comprising a second switch and a seventh switch,
a third switch pair comprising a third switch and a fourth switch,
a fourth switch pair comprising a fifth switch and a tenth switch, and
a fifth switch pair comprising a sixth switch and an eighth switch;
a controllable heater network comprising respective heating elements that transfer heat to respective switches of the respective metal-insulator-transition material switch pairs, the controllable heater network being controlled to output heat via energy to selectively determine respective lower resistance states or respective higher resistance states of the respective metal-insulator-transition material switch pairs,
wherein the controllable heater network is controlled to at least one of:
set a first switch pair state to electrically couple the first RF port to the second RF port;
set a second switch pair state to electrically couple the first RF port to the fourth RF port;
set a third switch pair state to electrically couple the first RF port to the third RF port;
set a fourth switch pair state to electrically couple the second RF port to the third RF port;
or
set a fifth switch pair state to electrically couple the third RF port to the fourth RF port.

12 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Transition material-based non-blocking multiple state, multiport radio frequency switch

Life of this patent

Transition material-based non-blocking multiple state, multiport radio frequency switch

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20