High-Isolation SPDT RF Switch Using Inductive Switching and Leakage Signal Cancellation

A switch is one of the most useful circuits for controlling the path of signal transmission. It can be added to digital circuits to create a kind of gate-level device and it can also save information into memory. In RF subsystems, a switch is used in a different way than its general role in digital circuits. The most important characteristic to consider when designing an RF switch is keeping the isolation as high as possible while also keeping insertion loss as low as possible. For high isolation, we propose leakage signal cancellation and inductive switching for designing a single-pole double-throw (SPDT) RF switch. By using the proposed method, an isolation level of more than 23 dB can be achieved. Furthermore, the heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) process is used in the RF switch design to keep the insertion loss low. It is demonstrated that the proposed RF switch has an insertion loss of less than 2 dB. The RF switch operates from 1 to 8 GHz based on the 0.18-mu m SiGe HBT process, taking up an area of 0.3 mm(2).