High-frequency electronic components play an important role in our daily lives. They cover the broad frequency range from radio frequency (RF) to microwave to terahertz (THz). Typical applications include wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) systems, microwave ovens, bluetooth systems, wireless power transfer, satellite communication, anti-collision car radar, airport security check systems, THz imaging, and many others. With the advent of these systems, high-frequency electronic components are now required to support electronic systems operating in many different frequency bands and with different characteristics. To address this issue, it is important to design and realize high-frequency electronic components with reconfigurable and highly flexible responses (e.g. THz components with tunable frequency band and large modulation depth). Up to now, almost all of such high-frequency components are made of solid materials. Their physical structures are rigid, fixed and difficult to reconfigure. This research will study novel liquid-based high-frequency electronic components. The employment of liquids to replace conventional solid materials will facilitate the generation of reconfigurable and intelligent electronic systems with high adaptability. The intelligence is enabled by electronically manipulating liquid movements and morphing its shape. The proposed research will pave the way for the development of liquid-based electronic systems. In addition to advancing knowledge in both science and engineering, the proposed project will have potential broad impacts to our society, including improvements to communication, safety, health care, and defense systems. This project will also produce exciting learning and training opportunities for students.
The explosive development of communication systems in the past decade has imposed stringent design challenges for high-frequency components. For example, the emerging THz technology has called for the innovative design of THz components with advanced functionalities. The proposed project aims to realize efficient use and control of liquid materials to adaptively change the responses of high-frequency devices, from which system level intelligence can be achieved to actively control these devices for optimal performance. Electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) will be employed as the tuning mechanism to realize agile actuation and programmable transport of liquids. The resulting novel liquid-based high-frequency devices can operate efficiently at the broad spectrum from RF/microwave to THz. By leveraging multi-disciplinary knowledge in electromagnetics and electrowetting techniques, this project has the following three innovations: (1) design of novel liquid-based THz components with transformative characteristics and properties; (2) use of the EWOD technique to realize adaptive tuning of the high-frequency devices with reconfigurable and programmable responses; (3) tuning of high-frequency components through three-dimensional manipulation of liquids. The proposed research represents a systematic and interdisciplinary effort to realize liquid-based high-frequency components with a fully electronically-controlled tuning and flexible properties, covering a broad range of applications such as communications, security, and sensing. The proposed design will be verified by experimental results and module demonstration.
