Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
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- Creators: Turaga, Pavan
- Creators: Yu, Hongbin
Description
A workload-aware low-power neuromorphic controller for dynamic power and thermal management in VLSI systems is presented. The neuromorphic controller predicts future workload and temperature values based on the past values and CPU performance counters and preemptively regulates supply voltage and frequency. System-level measurements from stateof-the-art commercial microprocessors are used to get workload, temperature and CPU performance counter values. The controller is designed and simulated using circuit-design and synthesis tools. At device-level, on-chip planar inductors suffer from low inductance occupying large chip area. On-chip inductors with integrated magnetic materials are designed, simulated and fabricated to explore performance-efficiency trade offs and explore potential applications such as resonant clocking and on-chip voltage regulation. A system level study is conducted to evaluate the effect of on-chip voltage regulator employing magnetic inductors as the output filter. It is concluded that neuromorphic power controller is beneficial for fine-grained per-core power management in conjunction with on-chip voltage regulators utilizing scaled magnetic inductors.
ContributorsSinha, Saurabh (Author) / Cao, Yu (Thesis advisor) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Committee member) / Yu, Hongbin (Committee member) / Christen, Jennifer B. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
CMOS technology is expected to enter the 10nm regime for future integrated circuits (IC). Such aggressive scaling leads to vastly increased variability, posing a grand challenge to robust IC design. Variations in CMOS are often divided into two types: intrinsic variations and process-induced variations. Intrinsic variations are limited by fundamental physics. They are inherent to CMOS structure, considered as one of the ultimate barriers to the continual scaling of CMOS devices. In this work the three primary intrinsic variations sources are studied, including random dopant fluctuation (RDF), line-edge roughness (LER) and oxide thickness fluctuation (OTF). The research is focused on the modeling and simulation of those variations and their scaling trends. Besides the three variations, a time dependent variation source, Random Telegraph Noise (RTN) is also studied. Different from the other three variations, RTN does not contribute much to the total variation amount, but aggregate the worst case of Vth variations in CMOS. In this work a TCAD based simulation study on RTN is presented, and a new SPICE based simulation method for RTN is proposed for time domain circuit analysis. Process-induced variations arise from the imperfection in silicon fabrication, and vary from foundries to foundries. In this work the layout dependent Vth shift due to Rapid-Thermal Annealing (RTA) are investigated. In this work, we develop joint thermal/TCAD simulation and compact modeling tools to analyze performance variability under various layout pattern densities and RTA conditions. Moreover, we propose a suite of compact models that bridge the underlying RTA process with device parameter change for efficient design optimization.
ContributorsYe, Yun, Ph.D (Author) / Cao, Yu (Thesis advisor) / Yu, Hongbin (Committee member) / Song, Hongjiang (Committee member) / Clark, Lawrence (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
In this work, I worked on the synthesis and characterization of nanowires and belts, grown using different materials, in Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) system with catalytic growth method. Through this thesis, I utilized the Photoluminescence (PL), Secondary Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses to find out the properties of Erbium Chloride Silicate (ECS) and two segment CdS-CdSe samples. In the first part of my research, growth of very new material, Erbium Chloride Silicate (ECS), in form of core/shell Si/ECS and pure ECS nanowires, was demonstrated. This new material has very fascinating properties for new Si based photonic devices. The Erbium density in those nanowires is which is very high value compared to the other Erbium doped materials. It was shown that the luminescence peaks of ECS nanowires are very sharp and stronger than their counterparts. Furthermore, both PL and XRD peaks get sharper and stronger as growth temperature increases and this shows that crystalline quality of ECS nanowires gets better with higher temperature. In the second part, I did a very detail research for growing two segment axial nanowires or radial belts and report that the structure type mostly depends on the growth temperature. Since our final step is to create white light LEDs using single axial nanowires which have three different regions grown with distinct materials and give red, green and blue colors simultaneously, we worked on growing CdS-CdSe nanowires or belts for the first step of our aim. Those products were successfully grown and they gave two luminescence peaks with maximum 160 nm wavelength separation depending on the growth conditions. It was observed that products become more likely belt once the substrate temperature increases. Also, dominance between VLS and VS is very critical to determine the shape of the products and the substitution of CdS by CdSe is very effective; hence, CdSe growth time should be chosen accordingly. However, it was shown two segmented products can be synthesized by picking the right conditions and with very careful analyses. We also demonstrated that simultaneous two colors lasing from a single segmented belt structures is possible with strong enough-pumping-power.
ContributorsTurkdogan, Sunay (Author) / Ning, Cun-Zheng (Thesis advisor) / Tao, Meng (Committee member) / Yu, Hongbin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Studying charge transport through single molecules tethered between two metal electrodes is of fundamental importance in molecular electronics. Over the years, a variety of methods have been developed in attempts of performing such measurements. However, the limitation of these techniques is still one of the factors that prohibit one from gaining a thorough understanding of single molecule junctions. Firstly, the time resolution of experiments is typically limited to milli to microseconds, while molecular dynamics simulations are carried out on the time scale of pico to nanoseconds. A huge gap therefore persists between the theory and the experiments. This thesis demonstrates a nanosecond scale measurement of the gold atomic contact breakdown process. A combined setup of DC and AC circuits is employed, where the AC circuit reveals interesting observations in nanosecond scale not previously seen using conventional DC circuits. The breakdown time of gold atomic contacts is determined to be faster than 0.1 ns and subtle atomic events are observed within nanoseconds. Furthermore, a new method based on the scanning tunneling microscope break junction (STM-BJ) technique is developed to rapidly record thousands of I-V curves from repeatedly formed single molecule junctions. 2-dimensional I-V and conductance-voltage (G-V) histograms constructed using the acquired data allow for more meaningful statistical analysis to single molecule I-V characteristics. The bias voltage adds an additional dimension to the conventional single molecule conductance measurement. This method also allows one to perform transition voltage spectra (TVS) for individual junctions and to study the correlation between the conductance and the tunneling barrier height. The variation of measured conductance values is found to be primarily determined by the poorly defined contact geometry between the molecule and metal electrodes, rather than the tunnel barrier height. In addition, the rapid I-V technique is also found useful in studying thermoelectric effect in single molecule junctions. When applying a temperature gradient between the STM tip and substrate in air, the offset current at zero bias in the I-V characteristics is a measure of thermoelectric current. The rapid I-V technique allows for statistical analysis of such offset current at different temperature gradients and thus the Seebeck coefficient of single molecule junctions is measured. Combining with single molecule TVS, the Seebeck coefficient is also found to be a measure of tunnel barrier height.
ContributorsGuo, Shaoyin (Author) / Tao, Nongjian (Thesis advisor) / Bennett, Peter (Committee member) / Ning, Cun-Zheng (Committee member) / Yu, Hongbin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Photovoltaics (PV) is an important and rapidly growing area of research. With the advent of power system monitoring and communication technology collectively known as the "smart grid," an opportunity exists to apply signal processing techniques to monitoring and control of PV arrays. In this paper a monitoring system which provides real-time measurements of each PV module's voltage and current is considered. A fault detection algorithm formulated as a clustering problem and addressed using the robust minimum covariance determinant (MCD) estimator is described; its performance on simulated instances of arc and ground faults is evaluated. The algorithm is found to perform well on many types of faults commonly occurring in PV arrays. Among several types of detection algorithms considered, only the MCD shows high performance on both types of faults.
ContributorsBraun, Henry (Author) / Tepedelenlioğlu, Cihan (Thesis advisor) / Spanias, Andreas (Thesis advisor) / Turaga, Pavan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
As the 3rd generation solar cell, quantum dot solar cells are expected to outperform the first 2 generations with higher efficiency and lower manufacture cost. Currently the main problems for QD cells are the low conversion efficiency and stability. This work is trying to improve the reliability as well as the device performance by inserting an interlayer between the metal cathode and the active layer. Titanium oxide and a novel nitrogen doped titanium oxide were compared and TiOxNy capped device shown a superior performance and stability to TiOx capped one. A unique light anneal effect on the interfacial layer was discovered first time and proved to be the trigger of the enhancement of both device reliability and efficiency. The efficiency was improved by 300% and the device can retain 73.1% of the efficiency with TiOxNy when normal device completely failed after kept for long time. Photoluminescence indicted an increased charge disassociation rate at TiOxNy interface. External quantum efficiency measurement also inferred a significant performance enhancement in TiOxNy capped device, which resulted in a higher photocurrent. X-ray photoelectron spectrometry was performed to explain the impact of light doping on optical band gap. Atomic force microscopy illustrated the effect of light anneal on quantum dot polymer surface. The particle size is increased and the surface composition is changed after irradiation. The mechanism for performance improvement via a TiOx based interlayer was discussed based on a trap filling model. Then Tunneling AFM was performed to further confirm the reliability of interlayer capped organic photovoltaic devices. As a powerful tool based on SPM technique, tunneling AFM was able to explain the reason for low efficiency in non-capped inverted organic photovoltaic devices. The local injection properties as well as the correspondent topography were compared in organic solar cells with or without TiOx interlayer. The current-voltage characteristics were also tested at a single interested point. A severe short-circuit was discovered in non capped devices and a slight reverse bias leakage current was also revealed in TiOx capped device though tunneling AFM results. The failure reason for low stability in normal devices was also discussed comparing to capped devices.
ContributorsYu, Jialin (Author) / Jabbour, Ghassan E. (Thesis advisor) / Alford, Terry L. (Thesis advisor) / Yu, Hongbin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
In today's world there is a great need for sensing methods as tools to provide critical information to solve today's problems in security applications. Real time detection of trace chemicals, such as explosives, in a complex environment containing various interferents using a portable device that can be reliably deployed in a field has been a difficult challenge. A hybrid nanosensor based on the electrochemical reduction of trinitrotoluene (TNT) and the interaction of the reduction products with conducting polymer nanojunctions in an ionic liquid was fabricated. The sensor simultaneously measures the electrochemical current from the reduction of TNT and the conductance change of the polymer nanojunction caused from the reduction product. The hybrid detection mechanism, together with the unique selective preconcentration capability of the ionic liquid, provides a selective, fast, and sensitive detection of TNT. The sensor, in its current form, is capable of detecting parts per trillion level TNT in the presence of various interferents within a few minutes. A novel hybrid electrochemical-colorimetric (EC-C) sensing platform was also designed and fabricated to meet these challenges. The hybrid sensor is based on electrochemical reactions of trace explosives, colorimetric detection of the reaction products, and unique properties of the explosives in an ionic liquid (IL). This approach affords not only increased sensitivity but also selectivity as evident from the demonstrated null rate of false positives and low detection limits. Using an inexpensive webcam a detection limit of part per billion in volume (ppbV) has been achieved and demonstrated selective detection of explosives in the presence of common interferences (perfumes, mouth wash, cleaners, petroleum products, etc.). The works presented in this dissertation, were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS, 2009) and Nano Letters (2010), won first place in the National Defense Research contest in (2009) and has been granted a patent (WO 2010/030874 A1). In addition, other work related to conductive polymer junctions and their sensing capabilities has been published in Applied Physics Letters (2005) and IEEE sensors journal (2008).
ContributorsDiaz Aguilar, Alvaro (Author) / Tao, Nongjian (Thesis advisor) / Tsui, Raymond (Committee member) / Barnaby, Hugh (Committee member) / Yu, Hongbin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Built-in-Self-Test (BiST) for transmitters is a desirable choice since it eliminates the reliance on expensive instrumentation to do RF signal analysis. Existing on-chip resources, such as power or envelope detectors, or small additional circuitry can be used for BiST purposes. However, due to limited bandwidth, measurement of complex specifications, such as IQ imbalance, is challenging. In this work, a BiST technique to compute transmitter IQ imbalances using measurements out of a self-mixing envelope detector is proposed. Both the linear and non linear parameters of the RF transmitter path are extracted successfully. We first derive an analytical expression for the output signal. Using this expression, we devise test signals to isolate the effects of gain and phase imbalance, DC offsets, time skews and system nonlinearity from other parameters of the system. Once isolated, these parameters are calculated easily with a few mathematical operations. Simulations and hardware measurements show that the technique can provide accurate characterization of IQ imbalances. One of the glaring advantages of this method is that, the impairments are extracted from analyzing the response at baseband frequency and thereby eliminating the need of high frequency ATE (Automated Test Equipment).
ContributorsByregowda, Srinath (Author) / Ozev, Sule (Thesis advisor) / Cao, Yu (Committee member) / Yu, Hongbin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
In this thesis, we consider the problem of fast and efficient indexing techniques for time sequences which evolve on manifold-valued spaces. Using manifolds is a convenient way to work with complex features that often do not live in Euclidean spaces. However, computing standard notions of geodesic distance, mean etc. can get very involved due to the underlying non-linearity associated with the space. As a result a complex task such as manifold sequence matching would require very large number of computations making it hard to use in practice. We believe that one can device smart approximation algorithms for several classes of such problems which take into account the geometry of the manifold and maintain the favorable properties of the exact approach. This problem has several applications in areas of human activity discovery and recognition, where several features and representations are naturally studied in a non-Euclidean setting. We propose a novel solution to the problem of indexing manifold-valued sequences by proposing an intrinsic approach to map sequences to a symbolic representation. This is shown to enable the deployment of fast and accurate algorithms for activity recognition, motif discovery, and anomaly detection. Toward this end, we present generalizations of key concepts of piece-wise aggregation and symbolic approximation for the case of non-Euclidean manifolds. Experiments show that one can replace expensive geodesic computations with much faster symbolic computations with little loss of accuracy in activity recognition and discovery applications. The proposed methods are ideally suited for real-time systems and resource constrained scenarios.
ContributorsAnirudh, Rushil (Author) / Turaga, Pavan (Thesis advisor) / Spanias, Andreas (Committee member) / Li, Baoxin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Recent advances in camera architectures and associated mathematical representations now enable compressive acquisition of images and videos at low data-rates. While most computer vision applications of today are composed of conventional cameras, which collect a large amount redundant data and power hungry embedded systems, which compress the collected data for further processing, compressive cameras offer the advantage of direct acquisition of data in compressed domain and hence readily promise to find applicability in computer vision, particularly in environments hampered by limited communication bandwidths. However, despite the significant progress in theory and methods of compressive sensing, little headway has been made in developing systems for such applications by exploiting the merits of compressive sensing. In such a setting, we consider the problem of activity recognition, which is an important inference problem in many security and surveillance applications. Since all successful activity recognition systems involve detection of human, followed by recognition, a potential fully functioning system motivated by compressive camera would involve the tracking of human, which requires the reconstruction of atleast the initial few frames to detect the human. Once the human is tracked, the recognition part of the system requires only the features to be extracted from the tracked sequences, which can be the reconstructed images or the compressed measurements of such sequences. However, it is desirable in resource constrained environments that these features be extracted from the compressive measurements without reconstruction. Motivated by this, in this thesis, we propose a framework for understanding activities as a non-linear dynamical system, and propose a robust, generalizable feature that can be extracted directly from the compressed measurements without reconstructing the original video frames. The proposed feature is termed recurrence texture and is motivated from recurrence analysis of non-linear dynamical systems. We show that it is possible to obtain discriminative features directly from the compressed stream and show its utility in recognition of activities at very low data rates.
ContributorsKulkarni, Kuldeep Sharad (Author) / Turaga, Pavan (Thesis advisor) / Spanias, Andreas (Committee member) / Frakes, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012