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Description
Microwave (MW), thermal, and ultraviolet (UV) annealing were used to explore the response of Ag structures on a Ge-Se chalcogenide glass (ChG) thin film as flexible radiation sensors, and Te-Ti chalcogenide thin films as a material for diffusion barriers in microelectronics devices and processing of metallized Cu. Flexible resistive radiation

Microwave (MW), thermal, and ultraviolet (UV) annealing were used to explore the response of Ag structures on a Ge-Se chalcogenide glass (ChG) thin film as flexible radiation sensors, and Te-Ti chalcogenide thin films as a material for diffusion barriers in microelectronics devices and processing of metallized Cu. Flexible resistive radiation sensors consisting of Ag electrodes on a Ge20Se80 ChG thin film and polyethylene naphthalate substrate were exposed to UV radiation. The sensors were mounted on PVC tubes of varying radii to induce bending strains and annealed under ambient conditions up to 150 oC. Initial sensor resistance was measured to be ~1012 Ω; after exposure to UV radiation, the resistance was ~104 Ω. Bending strain and low temperature annealing had no significant effect on the resistance of the sensors. Samples of Cu on Te-Ti thin films were annealed in vacuum for up to 30 minutes and were stable up to 500 oC as revealed using Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) and four-point-probe analysis. X-ray diffractometry (XRD) indicates Cu grain growth up to 500 oC and phase instability of the Te-Ti barrier at 600 oC. MW processing was performed in a 2.45-GHz microwave cavity on Cu/Te-Ti films for up to 30 seconds to induce oxide growth. Using a calibrated pyrometer above the sample, the temperature of the MW process was measured to be below a maximum of 186 oC. Four-point-probe analysis shows an increase in resistance with an increase in MW time. XRD indicates growth of CuO on the sample surface. RBS suggests oxidation throughout the Te-Ti film. Additional samples were exposed to 907 J/cm2 UV radiation in order to ensure other possible electromagnetically induced mechanisms were not active. There were no changes observed using XRD, RBS or four point probing.
ContributorsRoos, Benjamin, 1990- (Author) / Alford, Terry L. (Thesis advisor) / Theodore, David (Committee member) / Kozicki, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
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Description
Distributed inference has applications in a wide range of fields such as source localization, target detection, environment monitoring, and healthcare. In this dissertation, distributed inference schemes which use bounded transmit power are considered. The performance of the proposed schemes are studied for a variety of inference problems. In the first

Distributed inference has applications in a wide range of fields such as source localization, target detection, environment monitoring, and healthcare. In this dissertation, distributed inference schemes which use bounded transmit power are considered. The performance of the proposed schemes are studied for a variety of inference problems. In the first part of the dissertation, a distributed detection scheme where the sensors transmit with constant modulus signals over a Gaussian multiple access channel is considered. The deflection coefficient of the proposed scheme is shown to depend on the characteristic function of the sensing noise, and the error exponent for the system is derived using large deviation theory. Optimization of the deflection coefficient and error exponent are considered with respect to a transmission phase parameter for a variety of sensing noise distributions including impulsive ones. The proposed scheme is also favorably compared with existing amplify-and-forward (AF) and detect-and-forward (DF) schemes. The effect of fading is shown to be detrimental to the detection performance and simulations are provided to corroborate the analytical results. The second part of the dissertation studies a distributed inference scheme which uses bounded transmission functions over a Gaussian multiple access channel. The conditions on the transmission functions under which consistent estimation and reliable detection are possible is characterized. For the distributed estimation problem, an estimation scheme that uses bounded transmission functions is proved to be strongly consistent provided that the variance of the noise samples are bounded and that the transmission function is one-to-one. The proposed estimation scheme is compared with the amplify and forward technique and its robustness to impulsive sensing noise distributions is highlighted. It is also shown that bounded transmissions suffer from inconsistent estimates if the sensing noise variance goes to infinity. For the distributed detection problem, similar results are obtained by studying the deflection coefficient. Simulations corroborate our analytical results. In the third part of this dissertation, the problem of estimating the average of samples distributed at the nodes of a sensor network is considered. A distributed average consensus algorithm in which every sensor transmits with bounded peak power is proposed. In the presence of communication noise, it is shown that the nodes reach consensus asymptotically to a finite random variable whose expectation is the desired sample average of the initial observations with a variance that depends on the step size of the algorithm and the variance of the communication noise. The asymptotic performance is characterized by deriving the asymptotic covariance matrix using results from stochastic approximation theory. It is shown that using bounded transmissions results in slower convergence compared to the linear consensus algorithm based on the Laplacian heuristic. Simulations corroborate our analytical findings. Finally, a robust distributed average consensus algorithm in which every sensor performs a nonlinear processing at the receiver is proposed. It is shown that non-linearity at the receiver nodes makes the algorithm robust to a wide range of channel noise distributions including the impulsive ones. It is shown that the nodes reach consensus asymptotically and similar results are obtained as in the case of transmit non-linearity. Simulations corroborate our analytical findings and highlight the robustness of the proposed algorithm.
ContributorsDasarathan, Sivaraman (Author) / Tepedelenlioğlu, Cihan (Thesis advisor) / Papandreou-Suppappola, Antonia (Committee member) / Reisslein, Martin (Committee member) / Goryll, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
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Description
This research emphasizes the use of low energy and low temperature post processing to improve the performance and lifetime of thin films and thin film transistors, by applying the fundamentals of interaction of materials with conductive heating and electromagnetic radiation. Single frequency microwave anneal is used to rapidly recrystallize the

This research emphasizes the use of low energy and low temperature post processing to improve the performance and lifetime of thin films and thin film transistors, by applying the fundamentals of interaction of materials with conductive heating and electromagnetic radiation. Single frequency microwave anneal is used to rapidly recrystallize the damage induced during ion implantation in Si substrates. Volumetric heating of the sample in the presence of the microwave field facilitates quick absorption of radiation to promote recrystallization at the amorphous-crystalline interface, apart from electrical activation of the dopants due to relocation to the substitutional sites. Structural and electrical characterization confirm recrystallization of heavily implanted Si within 40 seconds anneal time with minimum dopant diffusion compared to rapid thermal annealed samples. The use of microwave anneal to improve performance of multilayer thin film devices, e.g. thin film transistors (TFTs) requires extensive study of interaction of individual layers with electromagnetic radiation. This issue has been addressed by developing detail understanding of thin films and interfaces in TFTs by studying reliability and failure mechanisms upon extensive stress test. Electrical and ambient stresses such as illumination, thermal, and mechanical stresses are inflicted on the mixed oxide based thin film transistors, which are explored due to high mobilities of the mixed oxide (indium zinc oxide, indium gallium zinc oxide) channel layer material. Semiconductor parameter analyzer is employed to extract transfer characteristics, useful to derive mobility, subthreshold, and threshold voltage parameters of the transistors. Low temperature post processing anneals compatible with polymer substrates are performed in several ambients (oxygen, forming gas and vacuum) at 150 °C as a preliminary step. The analysis of the results pre and post low temperature anneals using device physics fundamentals assists in categorizing defects leading to failure/degradation as: oxygen vacancies, thermally activated defects within the bandgap, channel-dielectric interface defects, and acceptor-like or donor-like trap states. Microwave anneal has been confirmed to enhance the quality of thin films, however future work entails extending the use of electromagnetic radiation in controlled ambient to facilitate quick post fabrication anneal to improve the functionality and lifetime of these low temperature fabricated TFTs.
ContributorsVemuri, Rajitha (Author) / Alford, Terry L. (Thesis advisor) / Theodore, N David (Committee member) / Goryll, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
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Description
Zinc oxide (ZnO) has attracted much interest during last decades as a functional material. Furthermore, ZnO is a potential material for transparent conducting oxide material competing with indium tin oxide (ITO), graphene, and carbon nanotube film. It has been known as a conductive material when doped with elements such as

Zinc oxide (ZnO) has attracted much interest during last decades as a functional material. Furthermore, ZnO is a potential material for transparent conducting oxide material competing with indium tin oxide (ITO), graphene, and carbon nanotube film. It has been known as a conductive material when doped with elements such as indium, gallium and aluminum. The solubility of those dopant elements in ZnO is still debatable; but, it is necessary to find alternative conducting materials when their form is film or nanostructure for display devices. This is a consequence of the ever increasing price of indium. In addition, a new generation solar cell (nanostructured or hybrid photovoltaics) requires compatible materials which are capable of free standing on substrates without seed or buffer layers and have the ability introduce electrons or holes pathway without blocking towards electrodes. The nanostructures for solar cells using inorganic materials such as silicon (Si), titanium oxide (TiO2), and ZnO have been an interesting topic for research in solar cell community in order to overcome the limitation of efficiency for organic solar cells. This dissertation is a study of the rational solution-based synthesis of 1-dimentional ZnO nanomaterial and its solar cell applications. These results have implications in cost effective and uniform nanomanufacturing for the next generation solar cells application by controlling growth condition and by doping transition metal element in solution.
ContributorsChoi, Hyung Woo (Author) / Alford, Terry L. (Thesis advisor) / Krause, Stephen (Committee member) / Theodore, N. David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
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Description
HgCdTe is currently the dominant material for infrared sensing and imaging, and is usually grown on lattice-matched bulk CdZnTe (CZT) substrates. There have been significant recent efforts to identify alternative substrates to CZT as well as alternative detector materials to HgCdTe. In this dissertation research, a wide range of transmission

HgCdTe is currently the dominant material for infrared sensing and imaging, and is usually grown on lattice-matched bulk CdZnTe (CZT) substrates. There have been significant recent efforts to identify alternative substrates to CZT as well as alternative detector materials to HgCdTe. In this dissertation research, a wide range of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging and analytical techniques was used in the characterization of epitaxial HgCdTe and related materials and substrates for third generation IR detectors. ZnTe layers grown on Si substrates are considered to be promising candidates for lattice-matched, large-area, and low-cost composite substrates for deposition of II-VI and III-V compound semiconductors with lattice constants near 6.1 Å. After optimizing MBE growth conditions including substrate pretreatment prior to film growth, as well as nucleation and growth temperatures, thick ZnTe/Si films with high crystallinity, low defect density, and excellent surface morphology were achieved. Changes in the Zn/Te flux ratio used during growth were also investigated. Small-probe microanalysis confirmed that a small amount of As was present at the ZnTe/Si interface. A microstructural study of HgCdTe/CdTe/GaAs (211)B and CdTe/GaAs (211)B heterostructures grown using MBE was carried out. High quality MBE-grown CdTe on GaAs(211)B substrates was demonstrated to be a viable composite substrate platform for HgCdTe growth. In addition, analysis of interfacial misfit dislocations and residual strain showed that the CdTe/GaAs interface was fully relaxed. In the case of HgCdTe/CdTe/ GaAs(211)B, thin HgTe buffer layers between HgCdTe and CdTe were also investigated for improving the HgCdTe crystal quality. A set of ZnTe layers epitaxially grown on GaSb(211)B substrates using MBE was studied using high resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) measurements and TEM characterization in order to investigate conditions for defect-free growth. HRXRD results gave critical thickness estimates between 350 nm and 375 nm, in good agreement with theoretical predictions. Moreover, TEM results confirmed that ZnTe layers with thicknesses of 350 nm had highly coherent interfaces and very low dislocation densities, unlike samples with the thicker ZnTe layers.
ContributorsKim, Jae Jin (Author) / Smith, David J. (Thesis advisor) / McCartney, Martha R. (Committee member) / Alford, Terry L. (Committee member) / Crozier, Peter A. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
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Description
Estimation of complex permittivity of arsenic-doped silicon is the primary topic of discussion in this thesis presentation. The frequency that is of interest is 2.45 GHz, frequency typically used in conventional microwave ovens. The analysis is based on closed-form analytical expressions of cylindrical symmetry. A coaxial/radial line junction with the

Estimation of complex permittivity of arsenic-doped silicon is the primary topic of discussion in this thesis presentation. The frequency that is of interest is 2.45 GHz, frequency typically used in conventional microwave ovens. The analysis is based on closed-form analytical expressions of cylindrical symmetry. A coaxial/radial line junction with the central conductor sheathed in dielectric material, which is As-doped silicon in this case, are analyzed. Electrical and magnetic field equations governing the wave propagation in this setup are formulated by applying the necessary boundary conditions. Input admittance is computed using the fields in the device and reflection coefficient is calculated at the input. This analytical solution is matched to the reflection coefficient acquired by experiments conducted, using VNA as the input source. The contemplation is backed by simulation using High Frequency Structural Simulator, HFSS. Susceptor-assisted microwave heating has been shown to be a faster and easier method of annealing arsenic-doped silicon samples. In that study, it was noticed that the microwave power absorbed by the sample can directly be linked to the heat power required for the annealing process. It probes the validity of the statement that for arsenic-doped silicon the heating curve depends only on its sheet properties and not on the bulk as such and the results presented here gives more insight to it as to why this assumption is true. The results obtained here can be accepted as accurate since it is known that this material is highly conductive and electromagnetic waves do not penetrate in to the material beyond a certain depth, which is given by the skin depth of the material. Hall measurements and four-point-probe measurements are performed on the material in support of the above contemplation.
ContributorsVaradan, Siddharth Kulasekhar (Author) / Alford, Terry L. (Thesis advisor) / Pan, George W (Thesis advisor) / Myhajlenko, Stefan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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Description
This dissertation introduces stochastic ordering of instantaneous channel powers of fading channels as a general method to compare the performance of a communication system over two different channels, even when a closed-form expression for the metric may not be available. Such a comparison is with respect to a variety of

This dissertation introduces stochastic ordering of instantaneous channel powers of fading channels as a general method to compare the performance of a communication system over two different channels, even when a closed-form expression for the metric may not be available. Such a comparison is with respect to a variety of performance metrics such as error rates, outage probability and ergodic capacity, which share common mathematical properties such as monotonicity, convexity or complete monotonicity. Complete monotonicity of a metric, such as the symbol error rate, in conjunction with the stochastic Laplace transform order between two fading channels implies the ordering of the two channels with respect to the metric. While it has been established previously that certain modulation schemes have convex symbol error rates, there is no study of the complete monotonicity of the same, which helps in establishing stronger channel ordering results. Toward this goal, the current research proves for the first time, that all 1-dimensional and 2-dimensional modulations have completely monotone symbol error rates. Furthermore, it is shown that the frequently used parametric fading distributions for modeling line of sight exhibit a monotonicity in the line of sight parameter with respect to the Laplace transform order. While the Laplace transform order can also be used to order fading distributions based on the ergodic capacity, there exist several distributions which are not Laplace transform ordered, although they have ordered ergodic capacities. To address this gap, a new stochastic order called the ergodic capacity order has been proposed herein, which can be used to compare channels based on the ergodic capacity. Using stochastic orders, average performance of systems involving multiple random variables are compared over two different channels. These systems include diversity combining schemes, relay networks, and signal detection over fading channels with non-Gaussian additive noise. This research also addresses the problem of unifying fading distributions. This unification is based on infinite divisibility, which subsumes almost all known fading distributions, and provides simplified expressions for performance metrics, in addition to enabling stochastic ordering.
ContributorsRajan, Adithya (Author) / Tepedelenlioğlu, Cihan (Thesis advisor) / Papandreou-Suppappola, Antonia (Committee member) / Bliss, Daniel (Committee member) / Kosut, Oliver (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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Description
Damage detection in heterogeneous material systems is a complex problem and requires an in-depth understanding of the material characteristics and response under varying load and environmental conditions. A significant amount of research has been conducted in this field to enhance the fidelity of damage assessment methodologies, using a wide range

Damage detection in heterogeneous material systems is a complex problem and requires an in-depth understanding of the material characteristics and response under varying load and environmental conditions. A significant amount of research has been conducted in this field to enhance the fidelity of damage assessment methodologies, using a wide range of sensors and detection techniques, for both metallic materials and composites. However, detecting damage at the microscale is not possible with commercially available sensors. A probable way to approach this problem is through accurate and efficient multiscale modeling techniques, which are capable of tracking damage initiation at the microscale and propagation across the length scales. The output from these models will provide an improved understanding of damage initiation; the knowledge can be used in conjunction with information from physical sensors to improve the size of detectable damage. In this research, effort has been dedicated to develop multiscale modeling approaches and associated damage criteria for the estimation of damage evolution across the relevant length scales. Important issues such as length and time scales, anisotropy and variability in material properties at the microscale, and response under mechanical and thermal loading are addressed. Two different material systems have been studied: metallic material and a novel stress-sensitive epoxy polymer.

For metallic material (Al 2024-T351), the methodology initiates at the microscale where extensive material characterization is conducted to capture the microstructural variability. A statistical volume element (SVE) model is constructed to represent the material properties. Geometric and crystallographic features including grain orientation, misorientation, size, shape, principal axis direction and aspect ratio are captured. This SVE model provides a computationally efficient alternative to traditional techniques using representative volume element (RVE) models while maintaining statistical accuracy. A physics based multiscale damage criterion is developed to simulate the fatigue crack initiation. The crack growth rate and probable directions are estimated simultaneously.

Mechanically sensitive materials that exhibit specific chemical reactions upon external loading are currently being investigated for self-sensing applications. The "smart" polymer modeled in this research consists of epoxy resin, hardener, and a stress-sensitive material called mechanophore The mechanophore activation is based on covalent bond-breaking induced by external stimuli; this feature can be used for material-level damage detections. In this work Tris-(Cinnamoyl oxymethyl)-Ethane (TCE) is used as the cyclobutane-based mechanophore (stress-sensitive) material in the polymer matrix. The TCE embedded polymers have shown promising results in early damage detection through mechanically induced fluorescence. A spring-bead based network model, which bridges nanoscale information to higher length scales, has been developed to model this material system. The material is partitioned into discrete mass beads which are linked using linear springs at the microscale. A series of MD simulations were performed to define the spring stiffness in the statistical network model. By integrating multiple spring-bead models a network model has been developed to represent the material properties at the mesoscale. The model captures the statistical distribution of crosslinking degree of the polymer to represent the heterogeneous material properties at the microscale. The developed multiscale methodology is computationally efficient and provides a possible means to bridge multiple length scales (from 10 nm in MD simulation to 10 mm in FE model) without significant loss of accuracy. Parametric studies have been conducted to investigate the influence of the crosslinking degree on the material behavior. The developed methodology has been used to evaluate damage evolution in the self-sensing polymer.
ContributorsZhang, Jinjun (Author) / Chattopadhyay, Aditi (Thesis advisor) / Dai, Lenore (Committee member) / Jiang, Hanqing (Committee member) / Papandreou-Suppappola, Antonia (Committee member) / Rajadas, John (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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Description
Semiconductor manufacturing economics necessitate the development of innovative device measurement techniques for quick assessment of products. Several novel electrical measurement techniques will be proposed for screening silicon device parameters. The studied parameters range from oxide reliability, and carrier lifetime in MOS capacitors to the power MOSFET reverse recovery.

It will be

Semiconductor manufacturing economics necessitate the development of innovative device measurement techniques for quick assessment of products. Several novel electrical measurement techniques will be proposed for screening silicon device parameters. The studied parameters range from oxide reliability, and carrier lifetime in MOS capacitors to the power MOSFET reverse recovery.

It will be shown that positive charge trapping is a dominant process when thick oxides are stressed through the ramped voltage test (RVT). Exploiting the physics behind positive charge generation/trapping at high electric fields, a fast I-V measurement technique is proposed that can be used to effectively distinguish the ultra-thick oxides' intrinsic quality at low electric fields.

Next, two novel techniques will be presented for studying the carrier lifetime in MOS Capacitor devices. It will be shown that the deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) can be applied to MOS test structures as a swift mean for screening the generation lifetime. Recombination lifetime will also be addressed by introducing the optically-excited MOS technique as a promising tool.

The last part of this work is devoted to the reverse recovery behavior of the body diode of power MOSFETs. The correct interpretation of the LDMOS reverse recovery is challenging and requires special attention. A simple approach will be presented to extract meaningful lifetime values from the reverse recovery of LDMOS body-diodes exploiting their gate voltage and the magnitude of the reverse bias.
ContributorsElhami Khorasani, Arash (Author) / Alford, Terry L. (Thesis advisor) / Goryll, Michael (Committee member) / Theodore, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
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Description
Transparent conductive oxides (TCO) comprise a class of materials that exhibit unique combination of high transparency in the visible region along with high electrical conductivity. TCOs play an important role as transparent electrodes for optoelectronic devices such as solar cell panels, liquid crystal displays, transparent heat mirrors and organic light

Transparent conductive oxides (TCO) comprise a class of materials that exhibit unique combination of high transparency in the visible region along with high electrical conductivity. TCOs play an important role as transparent electrodes for optoelectronic devices such as solar cell panels, liquid crystal displays, transparent heat mirrors and organic light emitting devices (OLED). The most commonly used transparent electrodes in optoelectronic applications is indium tin oxide (ITO) due to its low resistivity (~ 10−4 Ω-cm) and high transmittance (~ 80 %). However, the limited supply of indium and the growing demand for ITO make the resulting fabrication costs prohibitive for future industry. Thus, cost factors have promoted the search for inexpensive materials with good electric-optical properties.

The object of this work is to study the structure-property-processing relationship and optimize a suitable transparent electrode with the intent to optimize them for flexible optoelectronics applications. The work focuses on improved processing of the mixed oxide (indium gallium zinc oxide, IGZO) thin films for superior optical and electrical properties. The study focuses on two different methods of post-deposition annealing-microwave and conventional. The microwave annealing was seen to have the dual advantage of reduced time and lower temperature, as compared to conventional annealing. Another work focuses on an indium free transparent composite electrode (TCE) where a very thin metal layer is inserted between the two TCO layers. A novel Nb2O5/Ag/Nb2O5 multilayered structure can exhibit better electrical and optical properties than a single layered TCO thin film. The focus for low cost alternative leads to a TiO2/metal/TiO2 based TCE. A systematic study was done to understand the effect of metal thickness and substituting different metals (Ag, Cu or Au) on the opto-electrical properties of the TCEs. The TiO2/Ag/TiO2 with mid Ag thickness 9.5 nm has been optimized to have a sheet resistance of 5.7 Ohm/sq. average optical transmittance of 90 % at 550 nm and figure of merit with 61.4 ×10-3 Ω-1. The TCEs showed improved optical and electrical properties when annealed in forming gas and vacuum. These dielectric/metal/dielectric multilayer TCEs have lower total thickness and are more efficient than a single-layer ITO film.
ContributorsDhar, Aritra (Author) / Alford, Terry L. (Thesis advisor) / Petuskey, William (Thesis advisor) / Krause, Stephen (Committee member) / Chizmeshya, Andrew (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015