Matching Items (167)
Description
Calcium hydroxide carbonation processes were studied to investigate the potential for abiotic soil improvement. Different mixtures of common soil constituents such as sand, clay, and granite were mixed with a calcium hydroxide slurry and carbonated at approximately 860 psi. While the carbonation was successful and calcite formation was strong on sample exteriors, a 4 mm passivating boundary layer effect was observed, impeding the carbonation process at the center. XRD analysis was used to characterize the extent of carbonation, indicating extremely poor carbonation and therefore CO2 penetration inside the visible boundary. The depth of the passivating layer was found to be independent of both time and choice of aggregate. Less than adequate strength was developed in carbonated trials due to formation of small, weakly-connected crystals, shown with SEM analysis. Additional research, especially in situ analysis with thermogravimetric analysis would be useful to determine the causation of poor carbonation performance. This technology has great potential to substitute for certain Portland cement applications if these issues can be addressed.
ContributorsHermens, Stephen Edward (Author) / Bearat, Hamdallah (Thesis director) / Dai, Lenore (Committee member) / Mobasher, Barzin (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
3D printing has recently become a popular manufacturing process and the goal of the project was to take that process to the kitchen. This was done by utilizing existing knowledge of the culinary process of "spherification", by which a liquid is encapsulated in an edible shell, and combining it with the hydrogel research advancements in tissue engineering to make robust fibers. A co-flow nozzle was constructed and the two fluids needed for spherification were flowed in various configurations to create different fibers. By outlining a stability regime and measuring the outer diameters for both regular and reverse spherification, the optimal method of production and fibers that would be suitable for 3D printing were discovered. The results of the experiments can be used to begin 3D printing edible 2D patterns and eventually 3D structures.
ContributorsSchott, Christopher David (Author) / Rykaczewski, Konrad (Thesis director) / Herrmann, Marcus (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Research on incorporating liquid metal into flexible substrates has resulted in a new avenue for research. Currently, the most promising technique performed was coating a cotton fiber in liquid metal and then using high heat to remove the fiber from the liquid metal without the use of flames or solvents. This is promising in that thin fibers could be coated to create the circuitry, then removed from the liquid metal. The remaining liquid metal could then be encased in a flexible polymer. This then sparked the idea of using a mortar and pestle to manually mix the liquid metal into the elastic substrate, in this case PDMS. Other materials can also be mixed in, such as graphite or alumina to create thermal interface materials (TIMs). These compounds are then poured into molds to cure, then are taken to be tested for thermal conductivity. The results have not yet returned, but this research will continue by changing the ratios of the materials in the TIMs as well as moving forward with encasing the remaining Galistan in elastomer once the fabric was removed through oxidation.
ContributorsKemme, Nicholas Austin (Author) / Rykaczewski, Konrad (Thesis director) / Hildreth, Owen (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
As green buildings become more popular, the challenge of structural engineer is to move beyond simply green to develop sustainable, and high-performing buildings that are more than just environmentally friendly. For decades, Portland cement-based products have been known as the most commonly used construction materials in the world, and as a result, cement production is a significant source of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and environmental impacts at all stages of the process. In recent years, the increasing cost of energy and resource supplies, and concerns related to greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts have ignited more interests in utilizing waste and by-product materials as the primary ingredient to replace ordinary Portland cement in concrete systems. The environmental benefits of cement replacement are enormous, including the diversion of non-recycled waste from landfills for useful applications, the reduction in non-renewable energy consumption for cement production, and the corresponding emission of greenhouse gases. In the vast available body of literature, concretes consisting activated fly ash or slag as the binder have been shown to have high compressive strengths, and resistance to fire and chemical attack. This research focuses to utilize fly ash, by-product of coal fired power plant along with different alkaline solutions to form a final product with comparable properties to or superior than those of ordinary Portland cement concrete. Fly ash mortars using different concentration of sodium hydroxide and waterglass were dry and moist cured at different temperatures prior subjecting to uniaxial compressive loading condition. Since moist curing continuously supplies water for the hydration process of activated fly ash mortars while preventing thermal shrinkage and cracking, the samples were more durable and demonstrated a noticeably higher compressive strength. The influence of the concentration of the activating agent (4, or 8 M sodium hydroxide solution), and activator-to-binder ratio of 0.40 on the compressive strengths of concretes containing Class F fly ash as the sole binder is analyzed. Furthermore, liquid sodium silicate (waterglass) with silica modulus of 1.0 and 2.0 along with activator-to-binder ratio of 0.04 and 0.07 was also studied to understand its performance in contributing to the strength development of the activated fly ash concrete. Statistical analysis of the compressive strength results show that the available alkali concentration has a larger influence on the compressive strengths of activated concretes made using fly ash than the influence of curing parameters (elevated temperatures, condition, and duration).
ContributorsBanh, Kingsten Chi (Author) / Neithalath, Narayanan (Thesis director) / Rajan, Subramaniam (Committee member) / Mobasher, Barzin (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
The existing compact models can reproduce the characteristics of MOSFETs in the temperature range of -40oC to 125oC. Some applications require circuits to operate over a wide temperature range consisting of temperatures below the specified range of existing compact models, requiring wide temperature range compact models for the design of such circuits. In order to develop wide temperature range compact models, fourteen different geometries of n-channel and p-channel MOSFETs manufactured in a 0.18μm mixed-signal process were electrically characterized over a temperature range of 40 K to 298 K. Electrical characterization included ID-VG and ID-VD under different drain, body and gate biases respectively. The effects of low-temperature operation on the performance of 0.18μm MOSFETs have been studied and discussed in terms of sub-threshold characteristics, threshold voltage, the effect of the body bias and linearity of the device. As it is well understood, the subthreshold slope, the threshold voltage, drive currents of the MOSFETs increase when the temperature of the MOSFETs is lowered, which makes it advantageous to operate the MOSFETs at low-temperatures. However the internal linearity gm1/gm3 of the MOSFETs degrades as the temperature of the MOSFETs is lowered, and the performance of the MOSFETs can be affected by the interface traps that exist in higher density close to conduction band and valence band energy levels, as the Fermi-level moves closer to bandgap edges when MOSFETs are operated at cryogenic temperatures.
ContributorsKathuria, Achal (Author) / Barnaby, Hugh (Thesis advisor) / Schroder, Dieter K. (Committee member) / Vermeire, Bert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2010
Description
In this work, a high resolution analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for use in harsh environments is presented. The ADC is implemented in bulk CMOS technology and is intended for space exploration, mining and automotive applications with a range of temperature variation in excess of 250°C. A continuous time (CT) sigma delta modulator employing a cascade of integrators with feed forward (CIFF) architecture in a single feedback loop topology is used for implementing the ADC. In order to enable operation in the intended application environments, an RC time constant tuning engine is proposed. The tuning engine is used to maintain linearity of a 10 ksps 20 bit continuous time sigma delta ADC designed for spectroscopy applications in space. The proposed circuit which is based on master slave architecture automatically selects on chip resistors to control RC time constants to an accuracy range of ±5% to ±1%. The tuning range, tuning accuracy and circuit non-idealities are analyzed theoretically. To verify the concept, an experimental chip was fabricated in JAZZ .18µm 1.8V CMOS technology. The tuning engine which occupies an area of .065mm2; consists of only an integrator, a comparator and a shift register. It can achieve a signal to noise and distortion ratio (SNDR) greater than 120dB over a ±40% tuning range.
ContributorsAnabtawi, Nijad (Author) / Barnaby, Hugh (Thesis advisor) / Vermeire, Bert (Committee member) / Gildenblat, Gennady (Committee member) / Chae, Junseok (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The thesis focuses on cost-efficient integration of the electro-chemical residue sensor (ECRS), a novel sensor developed for the in situ and real-time measurement of the residual impurities left on the wafer surface and in the fine structures of patterned wafers during typical rinse processes, and wireless transponder circuitry that is based on RFID technology. The proposed technology uses only the NMOS FD-SOI transistors with amorphous silicon as active material with silicon nitride as a gate dielectric. The proposed transistor was simulated under the SILVACO ATLAS Simulation Framework. A parametric study was performed to study the impact of different gate lengths (6 μm to 56 μm), electron motilities (0.1 cm2/Vs to 1 cm2/Vs), gate dielectric (SiO2 and SiNx) and active materials (a-Si and poly-Si) specifications. Level-1 models, that are accurate enough to acquire insight into the circuit behavior and perform preliminary design, were successfully constructed by analyzing drain current and gate to node capacitance characteristics against drain to source and gate to source voltages. Using the model corresponding to SiNx as gate dielectric, a-Si:H as active material with electron mobility equal to 0.4 cm2/V-sec, an operational amplifier was designed and was tested in unity gain configuration at modest load-frequency specifications.
ContributorsPandit, Vedhas (Author) / Vermeire, Bert (Thesis advisor) / Barnaby, Hugh (Committee member) / Chae, Junseok (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2010
Description
The RADiation sensitive Field Effect Transistor (RADFET) has been conventionally used to measure radiation dose levels. These dose sensors are calibrated in such a way that a shift in threshold voltage, due to a build-up of oxide-trapped charge, can be used to estimate the radiation dose. In order to estimate the radiation dose level using RADFET, a wired readout circuit is necessary. Using the same principle of oxide-trapped charge build-up, but by monitoring the change in capacitance instead of threshold voltage, a wireless dose sensor can be developed. This RADiation sensitive CAPacitor (RADCAP) mounted on a resonant patch antenna can then become a wireless dose sensor. From the resonant frequency, the capacitance can be extracted which can be mapped back to estimate the radiation dose level. The capacitor acts as both radiation dose sensor and resonator element in the passive antenna loop. Since the MOS capacitor is used in passive state, characterizing various parameters that affect the radiation sensitivity is essential. Oxide processing technique, choice of insulator material, and thickness of the insulator, critically affect the dose response of the sensor. A thicker oxide improves the radiation sensitivity but reduces the dynamic range of dose levels for which the sensor can be used. The oxide processing scheme primarily determines the interface trap charge and oxide-trapped charge development; controlling this parameter is critical to building a better dose sensor.
ContributorsSrinivasan Gopalan, Madusudanan (Author) / Barnaby, Hugh (Thesis advisor) / Holbert, Keith E. (Committee member) / Yu, Hongyu (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2010
Description
This thesis project explains what thermal interface materials (TIMs) are, what they are used for, and how to measure their properties. Thermal interface materials are typically either a grease like paste or a soft polymer pad that is placed between two solids to increase the heat transfer rate. Solids in contact with each other experience a very large thermal contact resistance, this creates a thermal bottleneck which severely decreases the heat transfer from one solid to another. To solve this, particles with a high thermal conductivity are used as filler material in either a grease or polymer. A common application for TIMs is in computer components, where a TIM is used to remove the heat generated from computer chips. These materials allow for computer chips to run faster without overheating or throttling performance. However, further improvements to TIMs are still desired, which are needed for more powerful computer chips. In this work, a Stepped Bar Apparatus (SBA) is used to evaluate the thermal properties of TIMs. The SBA is based on Fourier’s Law of one-dimensional heat transfer. This work explains the fundamentals of the SBA measurement, and develops a reliable way to confirm the SBA’s measurement consistency through the use of reference samples. Furthermore, this work evaluates the effects of volume fraction and magnetic alignment on the performance of nickel flakes mixed into a polymer to create a soft TIM composite pad. Magnets are used to align the nickel flakes into a column like arrangement in the direction that heat will travel. Magnetic alignment increases the thermal conductivity of the composite pads, and has peak performance at low compression.
ContributorsHart, Matthew (Author) / Rykaczewski, Konrad (Thesis director) / Wang, Robert (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12
Description
Analog to Digital Converters (ADCs) are a critical component in modern circuit applications. ADCs are used in virtually every application in which a digital circuit is interacting with data from the real world, ranging from commercial applications to crucial military and aerospace applications, and are especially important when interacting with sensors that observe environmental factors. Due to the critical nature of these converters, as well as the vast range of environments in which they are used, it is important that they accurately sample data regardless of environmental factors. These environmental factors range from input noise and power supply variations to temperature and radiation, and it is important to know how each may affect the accuracy of the resulting data when designing circuits that depend upon the data from these ADCs. These environmental factors are considered hostile environments, as they each generally have a negative effect on the operation of an ADC. This thesis seeks to investigate the effects of several of these hostile environmental variables on the performance of analog to digital converters. Three different analog to digital converters with similar specifications were selected and analyzed under common hostile environments. Data was collected on multiple copies of an ADC and averaged together to analyze the results using multiple characteristics of converter performance. Performance metrics were obtained across a range of frequencies, input noise, input signal offsets, power supply voltages, and temperatures. The obtained results showed a clear decrease in performance farther from a room temperature environment, but the results for several other environmental variables showed either no significant correlation or resulted in inconclusive data.
ContributorsSwanson, Taylor Catherine (Co-author) / Millman, Hershel (Co-author) / Barnaby, Hugh (Thesis director) / Garrity, Douglas (Committee member) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05