Design of a novel nanoscale high-performance phase-change silicon photonic switch

•A novel nanoscale photonic switch based on phase-change material integrated within a SOI waveguide is proposed.•The active volume of switch with extinction ratio of more than 43 dB is only 400 × 180 × 450 nm3 (length × height × width).•The proposed photonic switch is suitable for broadband operation.•The materials used (Ge2Sb2Te5 and SOI) are CMOS compatible.