The NANOFERRO-RF project has two (2) main objectives:

1) developing novel hafnium (Hf)-based ferroelectric ultrathin films (with thickness between 6 and 9 nm) using different doping elements (zirconium-Zr, aluminum-Al and yttrium-Y) in various concentrations, in order to provide a larger spectrum of Hf-based ferroelectrics for microwave applications. The basic elements for the final demonstrator will be miniaturised Hf-based phase shifters and miniaturised Hf-based bandpass (X band) filters;

2) design, fabrication and full characterization in DC and at microwaves of phased antenna arrays working in the X band with frequency tuning characteristics.

The main outcome of NANOFERRO-RF will be the hybrid 3D integration into a single radio-frequency (RF) receiver (working in the X band) of the following components:
- ferroelectric-based tunable filters;
- ferroelectric-based phase shifters;
- ferroelectric-based phased antenna arrays made of 2 up to 4 elements.

A selection of state-of-the-art devices and components is displayed in figure 1, whereas the final demonstrator is shown in figure 2.

a)	b)
Figure 1: (a) Optical picture of the fabricated IDC (top) and detailed EM layout of the biasing network (bottom); (b) optical picture of the fabricated PAA with, in the inset, a detail of the biasing network [1].

a)	b)
Figure 2: (a) Block schematic of NANOFERRO-RF’s demonstrator for an RF receiver on HfZrOf/HRSi; (b) schematic of the measurement equipment necessary to fully characterise NANOFERRO-RF’s demonstrator for its TRL validation.

[1] M. Dragoman, M. Aldrigo, S. Iordanescu, M. Modreanu, I. Povey, D. Vasilache, A. Dinescu, and C. Romanitan, “Low-Voltage Phase Shifters Based on HfxZr1-xO2 Ferroelectrics Integrated with Phased Antenna Arrays,” Proc. of 48th European Microwave Conference (EuMC), Nov. 2018, https://doi.org/10.23919/EuMC.2018.8541592.