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Description
The inductance of a conductor expresses its tendency to oppose a change in current flowing through it. For superconductors, in addition to the familiar magnetic inductance due to energy stored in the magnetic field generated by this current, kinetic inductance due to inertia of charge carriers is a significant and

The inductance of a conductor expresses its tendency to oppose a change in current flowing through it. For superconductors, in addition to the familiar magnetic inductance due to energy stored in the magnetic field generated by this current, kinetic inductance due to inertia of charge carriers is a significant and often dominant contribution to total inductance. Devices based on modifying the kinetic inductance of thin film superconductors have widespread application to millimeter-wave astronomy. Lithographically patterning such a film into a high quality factor resonator produces a high sensitivity photodetector known as a kinetic inductance detector (KID), which is sensitive to frequencies above the superconducting energy gap of the chosen material. Inherently multiplexable in the frequency domain and relatively simple to fabricate, KIDs pave the way to the large format focal plane array instruments necessary to conduct the next generation of cosmic microwave background (CMB), star formation, and galaxy evolution studies. In addition, non-linear kinetic inductance can be exploited to develop traveling wave kinetic inductance parametric amplifiers (TKIPs) based on superconducting delay lines to read out these instruments.

I present my contributions to both large and small scale collaborative efforts to develop KID arrays, spectrometers integrated with KIDs, and TKIPs. I optimize a dual polarization TiN KID absorber for the next generation Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope for Polarimetry, which is designed to investigate the role magnetic fields play in star formation. As part of an effort to demonstrate aluminum KIDs on sky for CMB polarimetry, I fabricate devices for three design variants. SuperSpec and WSpec are respectively the on-chip and waveguide implementations of a filter bank spectrometer concept designed for survey spectroscopy of high redshift galaxies. I provide a robust tool for characterizing the performance of all SuperSpec devices and demonstrate basic functionality of the first WSpec prototype. As part of an effort to develop the first W-Band (75-110 GHz) TKIP, I construct a cryogenic waveguide feedthrough, which enhances the Astronomical Instrumentation Laboratory’s capability to test W-Band devices in general. These efforts contribute to the continued maturation of these kinetic inductance technologies, which will usher in a new era of millimeter-wave astronomy.
ContributorsChe, George (Author) / Mauskopf, Philip D (Thesis advisor) / Aberle, James T., 1961- (Committee member) / Groppi, Christopher (Committee member) / Semken, Steven (Committee member) / Trichopoulos, Georgios (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
The increased adoption of Internet-of-Things (IoT) for various applications like smart home, industrial automation, connected vehicles, medical instrumentation, etc. has resulted in a large scale distributed network of sensors, accompanied by their power supply regulator modules, control and data transfer circuitry. Depending on the application, the sensor location can be

The increased adoption of Internet-of-Things (IoT) for various applications like smart home, industrial automation, connected vehicles, medical instrumentation, etc. has resulted in a large scale distributed network of sensors, accompanied by their power supply regulator modules, control and data transfer circuitry. Depending on the application, the sensor location can be virtually anywhere and therefore they are typically powered by a localized battery. To ensure long battery-life without replacement, the power consumption of the sensor nodes, the supply regulator and, control and data transmission unit, needs to be very low. Reduction in power consumption in the sensor, control and data transmission is typically done by duty-cycled operation such that they are on periodically only for short bursts of time or turn on only based on a trigger event and are otherwise powered down. These approaches reduce their power consumption significantly and therefore the overall system power is dominated by the consumption in the always-on supply regulator.

Besides having low power consumption, supply regulators for such IoT systems also need to have fast transient response to load current changes during a duty-cycled operation. Supply regulation using low quiescent current low dropout (LDO) regulators helps in extending the battery life of such power aware always-on applications with very long standby time. To serve as a supply regulator for such applications, a 1.24 µA quiescent current NMOS low dropout (LDO) is presented in this dissertation. This LDO uses a hybrid bias current generator (HBCG) to boost its bias current and improve the transient response. A scalable bias-current error amplifier with an on-demand buffer drives the NMOS pass device. The error amplifier is powered with an integrated dynamic frequency charge pump to ensure low dropout voltage. A low-power relaxation oscillator (LPRO) generates the charge pump clocks. Switched-capacitor pole tracking (SCPT) compensation scheme is proposed to ensure stability up to maximum load current of 150 mA for a low-ESR output capacitor range of 1 - 47µF. Designed in a 0.25 µm CMOS process, the LDO has an output voltage range of 1V – 3V, a dropout voltage of 240 mV, and a core area of 0.11 mm2.
ContributorsMagod Ramakrishna, Raveesh (Author) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Thesis advisor) / Garrity, Douglas (Committee member) / Kitchen, Jennifer (Committee member) / Seo, Jae-Sun (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
A domain decomposition method for analyzing very large FDTD domains, hundreds of thousands of wavelengths long, is demonstrated by application to the problem of radar scattering in the maritime environment. Success depends on the elimination of artificial scattering from the “sky” boundary and is ensured by an ultra-high-performance absorbing termination

A domain decomposition method for analyzing very large FDTD domains, hundreds of thousands of wavelengths long, is demonstrated by application to the problem of radar scattering in the maritime environment. Success depends on the elimination of artificial scattering from the “sky” boundary and is ensured by an ultra-high-performance absorbing termination which eliminates this reflection at angles of incidence as shallow as 0.03 degrees off grazing. The two-dimensional (2D) problem is used to detail the features of the method. The results are cross-validated by comparison to a parabolic equation (PE) method and surface integral equation method on a 1.7km sea surface problem, and to a PE method on propagation through an inhomogeneous atmosphere in a 4km-long space, both at X-band. Additional comparisons are made against boundary integral equation and PE methods from the literature in a 3.6km space containing an inhomogeneous atmosphere above a flat sea at S-band. The applicability of the method to the three-dimensional (3D) problem is shown via comparison of a 2D solution to the 3D solution of a corridor of sea. As a technical proof of the scalability of the problem with computational power, a 5m-wide, 2m-tall, 1050m-long 3D corridor containing 321.8 billion FDTD cells has been simulated at X-band. A plane wave spectrum analysis of the (X-band) scattered fields produced by a 5m-wide, 225m-long realistic 3D sea surface, and the 2D analog surface obtained by extruding a 2D sea along the width of the corridor, reveals the existence of out-of-plane 3D phenomena missed by the traditional 2D analysis. The realistic sea introduces random strong flashes and nulls in addition to a significant amount of cross-polarized field. Spatial integration using a dispersion-corrected Green function is used to reconstruct the scattered fields outside of the computational FDTD space which would impinge on a 3D target at the end of the corridor. The proposed final approach is a hybrid method where 2D FDTD carries the signal for the first tens of kilometers and the last kilometer is analyzed in 3D.
ContributorsDowd, Brandon (Author) / Diaz, Rodolfo E (Thesis advisor) / Pan, George (Committee member) / Schmidt, Kevin (Committee member) / Aberle, James T., 1961- (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
This work is concerned with the use of shielded loop antennas to measure

permittivity as a low-cost alternative to expensive probe-based systems for biological

tissues and surrogates. Beginning with the development of a model for simulation, the

shielded loop was characterized. Following the simulations, the shielded loop was tested

in

This work is concerned with the use of shielded loop antennas to measure

permittivity as a low-cost alternative to expensive probe-based systems for biological

tissues and surrogates. Beginning with the development of a model for simulation, the

shielded loop was characterized. Following the simulations, the shielded loop was tested

in free space and while holding a cup of water. The results were then compared. Because

the physical measurements and the simulation results did not line up, simulation results

were forgone. The shielded loop antenna was then used to measure a set of NaCl saline

solutions with varying molarities. This measurement was used as a calibration set, and

the results were analyzed. By taking the peak magnitude of the input impedance of each

solution, a trend was created for the molarities. Following this measurement and analysis,

a set of unknown solutions was tested. Based on the measurements and the empirical

trends from the calibration set of measurements, the molarities of the valid unknown

solutions were estimated. It is shown that using the known molarities, permittivity can

also be calculated. Using the estimated molarities of the unknown solutions, the

permittivity of each solution was calculated. The maximum error for the estimation was

1.07% from the actual data.
ContributorsYiin, Nathan (Author) / Aberle, James T., 1961- (Thesis advisor) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Committee member) / Kitchen, Jennifer (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
The continuing advancement of modulation standards with newer generations of cellular technology, promises ever increasing data rate and bandwidth efficiency. However, these modulation schemes present high peak to average power ratio (PAPR) even after applying crest factor reduction. Being the most power-hungry component in the radio frequency (RF) transmitter,

The continuing advancement of modulation standards with newer generations of cellular technology, promises ever increasing data rate and bandwidth efficiency. However, these modulation schemes present high peak to average power ratio (PAPR) even after applying crest factor reduction. Being the most power-hungry component in the radio frequency (RF) transmitter, power amplifiers (PA) for infrastructure applications, need to operate efficiently at the presence of these high PAPR signals while maintaining reasonable linearity performance which could be improved by moderate digital pre-distortion (DPD) techniques. This strict requirement of operating efficiently at average power level while being capable of delivering the peak power, made the load modulated PAs such as Doherty PA, Outphasing PA, various Envelope Tracking PAs, Polar transmitters and most recently the load modulated balanced PA, the prime candidates for such application. However, due to its simpler architecture and ability to deliver RF power efficiently with good linearity performance has made Doherty PA (DPA) the most popular solution and has been deployed almost exclusively for wireless infrastructure application all over the world.

Although DPAs has been very successful at amplifying the high PAPR signals, most recent advancements in cellular technology has opted for higher PAPR based signals at wider bandwidth. This lead to increased research and development work to innovate advanced Doherty architectures which are more efficient at back-off (BO) power levels compared to traditional DPAs. In this dissertation, three such advanced Doherty architectures and/or techniques are proposed to achieve high efficiency at further BO power level compared to traditional architecture using symmetrical devices for carrier and peaking PAs. Gallium Nitride (GaN) based high-electron-mobility (HEMT) technology has been used to design and fabricate the DPAs to validate the proposed advanced techniques for higher efficiency with good linearity performance at BO power levels.
ContributorsRuhul Hasin, Muhammad (Author) / Kitchen, Jennifer (Thesis advisor) / Aberle, James T., 1961- (Committee member) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Committee member) / Kiaei, Sayfe (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
Kinetic inductance springs from the inertia of charged mobile carriers in alternating electric fields and it is fundamentally different from the magnetic inductance which is only a geometry dependent property. The magnetic inductance is proportional to the volume occupied by the electric and magnetic fields and is often limited by

Kinetic inductance springs from the inertia of charged mobile carriers in alternating electric fields and it is fundamentally different from the magnetic inductance which is only a geometry dependent property. The magnetic inductance is proportional to the volume occupied by the electric and magnetic fields and is often limited by the number of turns of the coil. Kinetic inductance on the other hand is inversely proportional to the density of electrons or holes that exert inertia, the unit mass of the charge carriers and the momentum relaxation time of these charge carriers, all of which can be varied merely by modifying the material properties. Highly sensitive and broadband signal amplifiers often broaden the field of study in astrophysics. Quantum-noise limited travelling wave kinetic inductance parametric amplifiers offer a noise figure of around 0.5 K ± 0.3 K as compared to 20 K in HEMT signal amplifiers and can be designed to operate to cover the entire W-band (75 GHz – 115 GHz).The research cumulating to this thesis involves applying and exploiting kinetic inductance properties in designing a W-band orthogonal mode transducer, quadratic gain phase shifter with a gain of ~49 dB over a meter of microstrip transmission line. The phase shifter will help in measuring the maximum amount of phase shift ∆ϕ_max (I) that can be obtained from half a meter transmission line which helps in predicting the gain of a travelling wave parametric amplifier. In another project, a microstrip to slot line transition is designed and optimized to operate at 150 GHz and 220 GHz frequencies, that is used as a part of horn antenna coupled microwave kinetic inductance detector proposed to operate from 138 GHz to 250 GHz. In the final project, kinetic inductance in a 2D electron gas (2DEG) is explored by design, simulation, fabrication and experimentation. A transmission line model of a 2DEG proposed by Burke (1999), is simulated and verified experimentally by fabricating a capacitvely coupled 2DEG mesa structure. Low temperature experiments were done at 77 K and 10 K with photo-doping the 2DEG. A circuit model of a 2DEG coupled co-planar waveguide model is also proposed and simulated.
ContributorsSurdi, Harshad (Author) / Mauskopf, Philip (Thesis advisor) / Aberle, James T., 1961- (Committee member) / Trichopoulos, Georgios (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
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Description
State of art modern System-On-Chip architectures often require very low noise supplies without overhead on high efficiencies. Low noise supplies are especially important in noise sensitive analog blocks such as high precision Analog-to-Digital Converters, Phase Locked Loops etc., and analog signal processing blocks. Switching regulators, while providing high efficiency power

State of art modern System-On-Chip architectures often require very low noise supplies without overhead on high efficiencies. Low noise supplies are especially important in noise sensitive analog blocks such as high precision Analog-to-Digital Converters, Phase Locked Loops etc., and analog signal processing blocks. Switching regulators, while providing high efficiency power conversion suffer from inherent ripple on their output. A typical solution for high efficiency low noise supply is to cascade switching regulators with Low Dropout linear regulators (LDO) which generate inherently quiet supplies. The switching frequencies of switching regulators keep scaling to higher values in order to reduce the sizes of the passive inductor and capacitors at the output of switching regulators. This poses a challenge for existing solutions of switching regulators followed by LDO since the Power Supply Rejection (PSR) of LDOs are band-limited. In order to achieve high PSR over a wideband, the penalty would be to increase the quiescent power consumed to increase the bandwidth of the LDO and increase in solution area of the LDO. Hence, an alternative to the existing approach is required which improves the ripple cancellation at the output of switching regulator while overcoming the deficiencies of the LDO.

This research focuses on developing an innovative technique to cancel the ripple at the output of switching regulator which is scalable across a wide range of switching frequencies. The proposed technique consists of a primary ripple canceller and an auxiliary ripple canceller, both of which facilitate in the generation of a quiet supply and help to attenuate the ripple at the output of buck converter by over 22dB. These techniques can be applied to any DC-DC converter and are scalable across frequency, load current, output voltage as compared to LDO without significant overhead on efficiency or area. The proposed technique also presents a fully integrated solution without the need of additional off-chip components which, considering the push for full-integration of Power Management Integrated Circuits, is a big advantage over using LDOs.
ContributorsJoshi, Kishan (Author) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Thesis advisor) / Garrity, Douglas (Committee member) / Seo, Jae-Sun (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
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Description
Fingerprints have been widely used as a practical method of biometrics authentication or identification with a significant level of security. However, several spoofing methods have been used in the last few years to bypass fingerprint scanners, thus compromising data security. The most common attacks occur by the use of fake

Fingerprints have been widely used as a practical method of biometrics authentication or identification with a significant level of security. However, several spoofing methods have been used in the last few years to bypass fingerprint scanners, thus compromising data security. The most common attacks occur by the use of fake fingerprint during image capturing. Imposters can build a fake fingerprint from a latent fingerprint left on items such as glasses, doorknobs, glossy paper, etc. Current mobile fingerprint scanning technology is incapable of differentiating real from artificial fingers made from gelatin molds and other materials. In this work, the adequacy of terahertz imaging was studied as an alternative fingerprint scanning technique that will enhance biometrics security by identifying superficial skin traits. Terahertz waves (0.1 – 10 THz) are a non-ionizing radiation with significant penetration depth in several non-metallic materials. Several finger skin features, such as valley depth and sweat ducts, can possibly be imaged by employing the necessary imaging topology. As such, two imaging approaches 1) using quasi-optical components and 2) using near-field probing were investigated. The numerical study is accomplished using a commercial Finite Element Method tool (ANSYS, HFSS) and several laboratory experiments are conducted to evaluate the imaging performance of the topologies. The study has shown that terahertz waves can provide high spatial resolution images of the skin undulations (valleys and ridges) and under certain conditions identify the sweat duct pattern.
ContributorsZheng, Peng (Author) / Trichopoulos, Georgios (Thesis advisor) / Aberle, James T., 1961- (Committee member) / Pan, George (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
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Description
This thesis describes the design process used in the creation of a two stage cellular power amplifier. A background for understanding amplifier linearity, device properties, and ACLR estimation is provided. An outline of the design goals is given with a focus on linearity with high efficiency. The full design is

This thesis describes the design process used in the creation of a two stage cellular power amplifier. A background for understanding amplifier linearity, device properties, and ACLR estimation is provided. An outline of the design goals is given with a focus on linearity with high efficiency. The full design is broken into smaller elements which are discussed in detail. The main contribution of this thesis is the description of a novel interstage matching network topology for increasing efficiency. Ultimately the full amplifier design is simulated and compared to the measured results and design goals. It was concluded that the design was successful, and used in a commercially available product.
ContributorsSpivey, Erin (Author) / Aberle, James T., 1961- (Thesis advisor) / Kitchen, Jennifer (Committee member) / Ozev, Sule (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
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Description
Different environmental factors, such as ultraviolet radiation (UV), relative humidity (RH) and the presence of reducing gases (acetone and ethanol), play an important role in the daily life of human beings. UV is very important in a number of areas, such as astronomy, resin curing of polymeric materials, combustion engineering,

Different environmental factors, such as ultraviolet radiation (UV), relative humidity (RH) and the presence of reducing gases (acetone and ethanol), play an important role in the daily life of human beings. UV is very important in a number of areas, such as astronomy, resin curing of polymeric materials, combustion engineering, water purification, flame detection and biological effects with more recent proposals like early missile plume detection, secure space-to-space communications and pollution monitoring. RH is a very common parameter in the environment. It is essential not only for human comfort, but also for a broad spectrum of industries and technologies. There is a substantial interest in the development of RH sensors for applications in monitoring moisture level at home, in clean rooms, cryogenic processes, medical and food science, and so on. The concentration of acetone and other ketone bodies in the exhaled air can serve as an express noninvasive diagnosis of ketosis. Meanwhile, driving under the influence of alcohol is a serious traffic violation and this kind of deviant behavior causes many accidents and deaths on the highway. Therefore, the detection of ethanol in breath is usually used as a quick and reliable screening method for the sobriety checkpoint. Traditionally, semiconductor metal oxide sensors are the major candidates employed in the sensing applications mentioned above. However, they suffer from the low sensitivity, poor selectivity and huge power consumption. In this dissertation, Zinc Oxide (ZnO) based Film Bulk Acoustic Resonator (FBAR) was developed to monitor UV, RH, acetone and ethanol in the environment. FBAR generally consists of a sputtered piezoelectric thin film (ZnO/AlN) sandwiched between two electrodes. It has been well developed both as filters and as high sensitivity mass sensors in recent years. FBAR offers high sensitivity and excellent selectivity for various environment monitoring applications. As the sensing signal is in the frequency domain, FABR has the potential to be incorporated in a wireless sensor network for remote sensing. This study extended our current knowledge of FBAR and pointed out feasible directions for future exploration.
ContributorsQiu, Xiaotun (Author) / Yu, Hongyu (Thesis advisor) / Christen, Jennifer Blain (Committee member) / Aberle, James T., 1961- (Committee member) / Jiang, Hanqing (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011