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 (h-BN) 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.

The radiofrequency (RF) switching network system has emerged as an essential future technology in the sixth generation (6G) wireless communications. Many scientists have put a great deal of effort into researching and developing 6G antennas, RF front ends, and wave propagation characterization. However, the conventional RF switches are based on solid-state diode and transistor devices. These volatile solid-state switches cause high energy consumption because they consume both dynamic (during switching) and static (in the idle state) power [1]. Here, we proposed a radiofrequency (RF) switch based on the non-volatile resistive switching (NVRS) memory effects in h-BN [2], [3]. The non-volatile h-BN RF switches consume zero static power and are more energy-efficient than the conventional ones. Specifically, this work demonstrates the switches operating in the D-band (110 – 170 GHz) for the first time, which was absent in the prior reports [4], [5].