Integrated graphene oxide resistive element in tunable RF filters

Heba Abunahla,Anas Alazzam,Rida Gadhafi,Baker Mohammad,Mihai Sanduleanu,Mamady Kebe

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-70041-x

Heba Abunahla, Anas Alazzam + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-70041-x

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Abstract

Adaptable communication systems are of great interest as they provide dynamic front end to accommodate the tunable spectrum management in advanced wireless systems. Memristor (acronym of memory resistor) is an emerging technology part of resistive RAM (RRAM) that has good potential for application in reconfigurable RF devices. The potentiality of using resistive switches for frequency tuning of high frequency RF filters is successfully explored in this article for the first time. Tunable RF filter is designed with detailed simulation using Ansys HFSS, and then correlated with measured results from experiment. As a proof of concept, a prototype of the tunable RF filter is fabricated by using a graphene oxide (GO) integrated with a conventional microstrip open stub notch filter. The resistor switching ability of the device is exploited for the frequency tuning. The resonating length of the notch filter is varied by changing the resistance of the active GO material between ‘HIGH’ (OFF) and ‘LOW’ (ON) resistance states. The measured results demonstrate the great potential of using RRAM in tunable RF devices. It also proves the possibility of tuning RF devices without any localized surface mount device (SMD) element or complex realization technique.

Highlights

Adaptable communication systems are of great interest as they provide dynamic front end to accommodate the tunable spectrum management in advanced wireless systems
Being a crucial component in radio frequency (RF) transceivers, filters play a major role in wireless communication, which is among the main pillars of Internet of Things (IoT) technology stack (Fig. 1)[1]
This paper proves experimentally, for the first time, the possibility of using resistive RAM (RRAM) devices in planar RF filters that can operate at high frequencies

Summary

Introduction

Adaptable communication systems are of great interest as they provide dynamic front end to accommodate the tunable spectrum management in advanced wireless systems. Tunable filters are key components in dynamic spectrum management concepts like software defined radios and cognitive r adios[3]. Such devices provide ideal filtering solution for communications, medical, defense, and other essential fields[4]. The works provided in23,24 propose connecting the fabricated discrete RRAM as a variable resistor with other circuit components to demonstrate tunable filter behavior. Detailed fabrication and characterization are provided for the used resistive switches, the integration of these devices with phased antenna arrays is done only in simulations and the practical implementation and realization of the tunable RF device is missing.

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