High Frequency Substrate Technologies for the Realisation of Software Programmable Metasurfaces on PCB Hardware Platforms with Integrated Controller Nodes

Manessis, D.; Kafesaki, Maria; Soukoulis, Costas M.; Tretyakov, Sergei; Georgiou, Julius; Ostmann, A.; Aschenbrenner, R.; Schuster, Martin; Lang, K.-D.; Seckel, Manuel; Fu, L.; Tsilipakos, Odysseas; Pitilakis, Alexandros; Tasolamprou, Anna C.; Kossifos, Kypros M.; Varnava, Giorgos; Liaskos, Christos

doi:10.23919/empc44848.2019.8951834

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In this work, focus is mainly given on the chip design and its features. For elaboration on the EM aspects and capabilities of metasurfaces consisting of these chips, the reader is encouraged to read [34], [35], [36], [37], [38], [39], [40], [41], [42].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the bottom/back side, there are signal wires to convey the configuration data between the chips. The design of the PCB is described in details in [41] showing the asymmetric layer stack-up, while the manufacturing of the PCB is described in [42] detailing the techniques used to manufacture wires with 45 μm width and blind vias with 150 μm diameter on high-frequency substrates. Although the presented system is simple and symmetric, there are important constraints added to the design of the IC from the application and the operation at GHz frequencies, which are described below.…”

Section: A General Structure Of the Programmable Meta-atommentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Programmable Complex Impedance IC for Scalable and Reconfigurable Meta-Atoms

Petrou

Kossifos

Antoniades

et al. 2022

IEEE Trans. Nanotechnology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article presents the design of a fully-custom integrated circuit (IC) suitable for adjusting the complex impedance of individual meta-atoms to enable programmability of metasurface systems. Implemented in a 0.18 µm mixed-signal CMOS process, the circuit utilizes four integrated complex impedance elements, each one with 2 16 available states. The impedance elements are optimized between 2-6 GHz, thus covering the entire S-band as well as half of the C-band. An asynchronous digital control circuit based on Quasi Delay Insensitive (QDI) circuits has been employed, offering basic communication capabilities and software programmability, but most importantly, the clockless operation allows for extreme scalability, ultra-low static power consumption and low electromagnetic (EM) radiated emissions. An array of meta-atoms utilizing the ICs can form metasurfaces with arbitrary sizes and shapes, on both rigid and flexible substrates, adjusting their surface impedance without interfering with incoming EM waves. Measurement results of the 2.2 mm × 2.2 mm IC demonstrate that it achieves a reconfiguration frequency of 1 MHz for all loading elements, whilst consuming 324 µW static power consumption.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A General Structure Of the Programmable Meta-atommentioning

confidence: 99%

A Programmable Complex Impedance IC for Scalable and Reconfigurable Meta-Atoms

Petrou

Kossifos

Antoniades

et al. 2022

IEEE Trans. Nanotechnology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This and other issues such as the choice of substrate materials [92], the practicality of the tuning elements [11], [12], or the space left to integrate controllers and I/O pins at the unit cell level are greatly dependent on the metasurface frequency, whereas the computational requirements of the control logic hinge on the refresh rate imposed by the final applications. Within this context, we next review the prospects of promising technologies towards high-speed high-frequency programmable metasurfaces.…”

Section: Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Programmable Metamaterials for Software-Defined Electromagnetic Control: Circuits, Systems, and Architectures

Abadal

Cui

Low

et al. 2020

IEEE J. Emerg. Sel. Topics Circuits Syst.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Metamaterials and their two-dimensional analogues, metasurfaces, have recently attracted enormous attention because of their powerful control over electromagnetic (EM) waves from microwave to visible range. Moreover, by introducing explicit control of its sub-wavelength unit cells, a metamaterial can become programmable. Programmable metamaterials may not only host multiple EM functionalities that can be chosen or combined through simple software directives, but also be provided with means to adapt to the environment or communicate with other metamaterials, thereby enabling a myriad of applications in sensing, imaging, or communications. The realization of such a software-driven cyber-physical vision comes, however, at the cost of significant hardware requirements. In this paper, recent progress in the field of programmable metasurfaces is reviewed, cutting across layers from the application down to the device and technology levels. The main aim is to present the current status, main benefits, and key challenges of this thriving research area with a tutorial spirit and from a hardware perspective.

show abstract

“…The structured metal is then manipulated through active components to absorb or reflect with a certain phase shift. Lumped elements are either located directly at the front as in [5]- [7] or behind the back side, connected to the periodic layer through vias [8], [9]. Both of these design principles exhibit disadvantages in high-frequency applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%