Reconfigurable Low-Voltage Hexagonal Boron Nitride Nonvolatile Switches for Millimeter-Wave Wireless Communications

Abstract

Recently, nonvolatile resistive switching memory effects have been actively studied in two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides and boron nitrides to advance future memory and neuromorphic computing applications. Here, we report on radiofrequency (RF) switches utilizing hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) memristors that afford operation in the millimeter-wave (mmWave) range. Notably, silver (Ag) electrodes to h-BN offer outstanding nonvolatile bipolar resistive switching characteristics with a high ON/OFF switching ratio of 1011 and low switching voltage below 0.34 V. In addition, the switch exhibits a low insertion loss of 0.50 dB and high isolation of 23 dB across the D-band spectrum (110 to 170 GHz). Furthermore, the S21 insertion loss can be tuned through five orders of current compliance magnitude, which increases the application prospects for atomic switches. These results can enable the switch to become a key component for future reconfigurable wireless and 6G communication systems.