Commutator structure comprising several channels of phase change material and interdigitated control electrodes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9934922-B2
Application number	US-201715444629-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 28, 2017
Priority date	Mar 2, 2016
Publication date	Apr 3, 2018
Grant date	Apr 3, 2018

Abstract

RF commutator including:
a phase change material ( 7 ) arranged between a first conducting element ( 2 ) and a second conducting element ( 4 ), means of heating ( 11, 13 ) the phase change material provided with a first electrode ( 11 ) and a second electrode ( 13 ), the means of heating being capable of modifying the state of the phase change material ( 7 ) by injection of an electrical activation signal between the first electrode and the second electrode, at least one given electrode ( 11, 13 ) among the first electrode ( 11 ) and second electrode ( 13 ) comprising a conducting part ( 15 a ) arranged between the first conducting element ( 2 ) and the second conducting element ( 4 ), zones of the phase change material being laid out between the first conducting element ( 2 ) and the second conducting element ( 4 ) and being arranged on either side of this conducting part ( 15 a ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. Device capable of routing or interrupting a connection between at least one first conducting element and at least one second conducting element resting on a support, said device including:
at least one phase change material arranged between the first conducting element and the second conducting element, the phase change material being capable of changing state between a crystalline state wherein the phase change material has a first resistivity and an amorphous state wherein the phase change material has a second resistivity higher than the first resistivity, in such a way that when the phase change material is in the crystalline state it enables the routing of a first signal between the first conducting element and the second conducting element, when the phase change material is in the amorphous state it prevents the routing of the first signal between the first conducting element and the second conducting element,
a heater to heat the phase change material provided with at least one first electrode and at least one second electrode, the heater being capable of modifying the state of the phase change material by Joule effect by injecting at least one electrical activation signal between the first electrode and the second electrode,
at least one first zone of phase change material and at least one second zone of phase change material being comprised between the first conducting element and the second conducting element, the first zone of phase change material and the second zone of phase change material being arranged on either side and in contact with a conducting portion of a given electrode among said first electrode and second electrode, the first zone of phase change material being intercalated between said conducting portion of the given electrode and a conducting portion of another electrode among said first electrode and second electrode, the second zone of phase change material being intercalated between said conducting portion of the given electrode and a conducting portion of another electrode among said first electrode and second electrode.

2. Device according to claim 1 , wherein the first electrode comprises a plurality of conducting portions and the second electrode comprises a plurality of conducting portions, the conducting portions of the first electrode and the conducting portions of the second electrode being interdigitated.

3. Device according to claim 1 , wherein said conducting portions are laid out orthogonally to a main plane of the support.

4. Device according to claim 1 , wherein the first conducting element and the second conducting element are arranged in a same first plane parallel to a main plane of the support.

5. Device according to claim 1 , wherein said conducting portion(s) are connected to a conducting zone arranged in a plane separate from a first plane and parallel to said first plane.

6. Device according to claim 1 , wherein the first zone of phase change material and the second zone of phase change material have a length L′ measured along an axis passing through the conducting elements and a width W′ measured along an axis orthogonal to the conducting elements such that L′/W′ is greater than 1 and preferably greater than 3.

7. Device according to claim 1 , wherein the first conducting element and/or the second conducting element is electrically connected to a first decoupler between the first signal and the electrical activation signal, such as a decoupling capacitor.

8. Device according to claim 1 , wherein the first electrode and/or the second electrode is connected to a second decoupler between the electrical activation signal and the first signal, such as a decoupling inductance.

9. Device according to claim 1 , wherein the first electrode and the second electrode are in contact with the phase change material and form a direct heater of the phase change material, the heater further including at least one indirect heater of the phase change material, the indirect heater being configured to heat the phase change material by heat radiation.

10. Device according to claim 9 , wherein the first conducting element and the second conducting element are arranged in at least one first plane and wherein the indirect heater includes a resistance connected to at least one additional electrode through which another electrical activation signal is intended to be applied, the additional electrode advantageously being arranged in the first plane.

11. Device according to claim 10 , wherein the additional electrode is connected to a decoupler between said other activation signal and the first signal, such as a decoupling inductance.

12. Device according to claim 10 , wherein the heater is controlled to alternatively:
inject the electrical activation signal to the given electrode so as to make at least one zone of phase change material change from a crystalline state to an amorphous state,
inject the electrical activation signal to the additional electrode so as to make at least one zone of phase change material change from an amorphous state to a crystalline state.

13. Device according to claim 10 , wherein the heater include a controller configured to inject the electrical activation signal to the given electrode and concomitantly to inject the other activation signal to the additional electrode.

14. Device according to claim 1 , wherein the phase change material is based on chalcogenide or an alloy of chalcogenides.

15. Device according to claim 1 , comprising at least two zones of different phase change materials between the first conducting element and the second conducting element.

16. RF commutator or RF switch formed of a device according to claim 1 , the signal capable of being routed between the first conducting element and the second conducting element being a RF signal.

17. Device capable of routing or interrupting a connection between at least one first conducting element and at least one second conducting element resting on a support, said device including:
at least one phase change material arranged between the first conducting element and the second conducting element, the phase change material being capable of changing state between a crystalline state wherein the phase change material has a first resistivity and an amorphous state wherein the phase change material has a second resistivity higher than the first resistivity, in such a way that when the phase change material is in the crystalline state it enables the routing of a first signal between the first conducting element and the second conducting element, when the phase change material is in the amorphous state it prevents the routing of the first signal between the first conducting element and the second conducting element,
means of heating the phase change material provided with at least one first electrode and at least one second electrode, the means of heating being capable of modifying the state of the phase change material by Joule effect by injecting at least one electrical activation signal between the first electrode and the second electrode,
at least one first zone of phase change material and at least one second zone of phase change material being comprised between the first conducting element and the second conducting element, the first zone of phase change material and the second zone of phase change material being arranged on either side and in contact with a conducting portion of a given electrode among said first electrode and second electrode, the first zone of phase change material being intercalated between said conducting portion of the given e

Assignees

• Commissariat Energie Atomique

Inventors

• Reig Bruno
• Leon Alexandre
• Navarro Gabriele
• Puyal Vincent
• Saint-Patrice Damien

Classifications

• H01L45/1226

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L45/1286

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01H37/34

  Means for transmitting heat thereto, e.g. capsule remote from contact member · CPC title

• H01L45/1206

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L45/144

  Electricity · mapped topic