Design and Characterization of High Quality-Factor Inductors for Wireless Systems Compatible with Flexible Large-Area Electronics

Resonant operation, exploiting high quality-factor planar inductors, has recently enabled giga-Hertz applications for large-area electronics (LAE), providing a new technology platform for large-scale and flexible wireless systems. This work first presents the design, analysis, and characterization methodology of flex-compatible large-area planar inductors. Specifically, three distinct radio-frequency inductor characterization methods are experimentally demonstrated and compared, with the most accurate method among them (i.e., S parameters in a two-port configuration) demonstrating a record-high quality factor of up to ~65 in the 2.4-GHz frequency band. Enabled by accurate characterization, key inductor design considerations regarding the resistive loss due to inductor’s metal traces are then discussed. Finally, a case study of the recently demonstrated LAE resonant switch shows the potential of these high-performance inductors towards large-area and conformal wireless systems for integrated Internet of Things and 5G/6G applications.