RF Plasma Circuits and Antennas

Dr. Dimitrios Peroulis
Senior Vice President for Partnerships and Online, Purdue University

Abstract:

Plasma technology is widely used in various applications such as lighting, semiconductor manufacturing, and food processing. Recently, there have been significant developments in using plasma technology in high-frequency electronics, ranging from RF to millimeter-wave bands. This talk aims to explore the latest advancements in this field and discuss the benefits, challenges, and application space of plasma-based devices in RF technology.

During this talk, we will focus on the use of cold plasma as a tunable material for varactors, switches, and variable resistors. These devices are of particular interest in high-power applications, such as radar, radio transmission, and satellite communication, where signal control is required at the transmit side. In addition, these devices are useful for protecting sensitive circuits. We will present several proof-of-concept devices, including plasma tunable resonators, limiters, and switches.

We will also explore the potential of plasma technology in plasma antennas, reviewing both gas and solid-state implementations. Furthermore, we will discuss the exciting potential to create widely tunable antenna elements for reconfigurable plasma antenna array systems.

Speaker’s Bio: Dimitrios Peroulis is the Senior Vice President for Partnerships and Online at Purdue University. In this role, he leads the offices of industry partnerships, global programs and partnerships, engagement, and online programs. He is also the Reilly Professor of the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University. From 2019-2023 he served as the Michael and Katherine Birck Head of ECE and special adviser to the Dean of Engineering on online learning. He received his PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 2003. His research interests are focused on the areas of reconfigurable systems, plasma RF electronics, and RF-assisted lyophilization. He has been a key contributor in developing high quality widely-tunable filters and novel filter architectures based on miniaturized high-Q cavity-based resonators. He received the National Science Foundation CAREER award in 2008. He is an IEEE and IET Fellow and has co-authored over 450 journal and conference papers. In 2019 he received the “Tatsuo Itoh” Award and in 2014 he received the Outstanding Young Engineer Award both from the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S). In 2012 he received the Outstanding Paper Award from the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society (Ferroelectrics section). His students have received numerous student paper awards and other student research-based scholarships. He has been a Purdue University Faculty Scholar and has also received 11 teaching awards including the 2010 HKN C. Holmes MacDonald Outstanding Teaching Award and the 2010 Charles B. Murphy award, which is Purdue University’s highest undergraduate teaching honor.