EAGER: Collaborative Research: Liquid-Based Intelligent High-Frequency Components

高频电子元件在我们的日常生活中扮演着重要的角色。它们涵盖了从射频（RF）到微波到太赫兹（THz）的广泛频率范围。典型的应用包括无线保真（Wi-Fi）系统、微波炉、蓝牙系统、无线电力传输、卫星通信、防撞汽车雷达、机场安全检查系统、太赫兹成像等。随着这些系统的出现，现在需要高频电子元件来支持在许多不同频带和不同特性下运行的电子系统。为了解决这一问题，设计和实现具有可重构和高度灵活响应的高频电子元件（例如具有可调谐频带和大调制深度的太赫兹元件）是很重要的。到目前为止，几乎所有这类高频元件都是由固体材料制成的。它们的物理结构是刚性的、固定的，难以重新配置。本研究将研究新型液体基高频电子元件。利用液体取代传统的固体材料将有助于产生具有高适应性的可重构和智能电子系统。智能是通过电子操纵液体运动和改变其形状来实现的。提出的研究将为基于液体的电子系统的发展铺平道路。除了推进科学和工程方面的知识外，拟议中的项目还将对我们的社会产生潜在的广泛影响，包括改善通信、安全、医疗保健和国防系统。该项目还将为学生提供令人兴奋的学习和培训机会。在过去的十年中，通信系统的爆炸性发展对高频元件的设计提出了严格的挑战。例如，新兴的太赫兹技术要求创新设计具有先进功能的太赫兹元件。本课题旨在实现对液体材料的有效利用和控制，自适应改变高频器件的响应，从而实现系统级智能，主动控制高频器件，使其达到最佳性能。采用介质电润湿（EWOD）作为调节机构，实现液体的敏捷驱动和可编程输送。由此产生的新型液体基高频器件可以在射频/微波到太赫兹的广谱范围内高效工作。通过利用电磁学和电润湿技术的多学科知识，本项目有以下三个创新：(1)设计具有变革性特征和性能的新型液体基太赫兹元件；(2)利用EWOD技术实现响应可重构、可编程的高频器件的自适应调谐；(3)通过液体的三维操纵对高频元件进行调谐。提出的研究代表了系统和跨学科的努力，以实现基于液体的高频元件，具有完全电子控制调谐和灵活的特性，涵盖了广泛的应用，如通信，安全和传感。本文将通过实验结果和模块演示来验证所提出的设计。

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.