RF model of flexible microwave single-crystalline silicon nanomembrane PIN diodes on plastic substrate

This paper reports the realization and RF modeling of flexible microwave P-type-Intrinsic-N-type (PIN) diodes using transferrable single-crystalline Si nanomembranes (SiNMs) that are monolithically integrated on low-cost, flexible plastic substrates. With high-energy, high-dose ion implantation and high-temperature annealing before nanomembrane release and transfer process, the parasitic parameters (i.e. resistance, inductance, etc.) are effectively reduced, and the flexible PIN diodes achieve good high-frequency response. With consideration of the flexible device fabrication, structure and layout configuration, a RF model of the microwave single-crystalline Si nanomembrane PIN diodes on plastic substrate is presented. The RF/microwave equivalent circuit model achieves good agreement with the experimental results of the single-crystalline SiNM PIN diodes with different diode areas, and reveals the most influential factors to flexible diode characteristics. The study provides guidelines for properly designing and using single-crystalline SiNMs for flexible RF/microwave diodes and demonstrates the great possibility of flexible monolithic microwave integrated systems. & 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.