Electronic Devices and Semiconductor Manufacturing Commons^™

Brain Inspired Organic Electronic Devices And Systems For Adaptive Signal Processing, Memory, And Learning., Subhadeep Koner

Doctoral Dissertations

A new class of electronic device has emerged which bear the potential for low powered brain like adaptive signal processing, memory, and learning. It is a non-linear resistor with memory coined as memristor. A memristor is a two-terminal electrical device which simultaneously changes its resistance (processing information) and store the resistance state pertaining to the applied power (memory). Therefore, it can collocate memory and processing much like our brain synapse which can save time and energy for information processing. Leveraging stored memory, it can thereby help future engineered systems to learn autonomously from past experiences. There has been a growing …

A Bulk Driven Transimpedance Cmos Amplifier For Sipm Based Detection, Shahram Hatefi Hesari

Masters Theses

The contribution of this work lies in the development of a bulk driven operational
transconducctance amplifier which can be integrated with other analog circuits and
photodetectors in the same chip for compactness, miniaturization and reducing the
power. Silicon photomultipliers, also known as SiPMs, when coupled with scintillator materials are used in many imaging applications including nuclear detection. This thesis discuss the design of a bulk-driven transimpedance amplifier suitable for detectors where the front end is a SiPM. The amplifier was design and fabricated in a standard standard CMOS process and is suitable for integration with CMOS based SiPMs and commercially …

Load Modeling And Evaluation Of Leds For Hardware Test Bed Application, Jillian M. Ruff

Masters Theses

The lighting industry was revolutionized with the emergence of LED lighting. Over the last 15 years, LED lighting device sales and utilization have grown immensely. The growth and popularity of LEDs is due to improved operation of the device when compared to previous lighting technologies. Efficient performance of the device is critical due to the growth of global energy consumption.

As nonrenewable generation fuel is finite, utilities have begun the transition to renewable energy generation. Generation and distribution systems become inherently complex to comprehend and maintain with incorporation of emerging supply and load technologies. With the unprecedented growth of LED …

Cmos Compatible Carbonization Of Polymer For Elctrochemical Sensors, Mohammad Aminul Haque

Doctoral Dissertations

Carbon-based electrodes that are integrable with CMOS readout electrodes possess great potential in a wide range of cutting-edge applications. The primary scientific contribution is the development of a processing sequence which can be implemented on CMOS chips to fabricate pyrolyzed carbon microelectrodes from 3D printed polymer microstructures to develop lab-on-CMOS monolithic electrochemical sensor systems. Specifically, optimized processing conditions to convert 3D printed polymer micro- and nano-structures to carbonized electrodes have been explored in order to obtain sensing electrodes for lab-on- CMOS electrochemical systems. Processing conditions have been identified, including a sequel of oxidative and inert atmosphere anneals to form pyrolyzed …

Improving The Biocompatibility Of The Bio-Inorganic Interface For Enhanced Photosystem I-Based Biophotovoltaic Device Performance, Alexandra H. Teodor

Doctoral Dissertations

The world’s energy demands are projected to increase by nearly 50% by the year 2040, and consumption of carbon-based fuels continues to release greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. This has been causally linked with climate change and increased extreme weather events, which has been further linked to adverse health outcomes and negative effects on biodiversity, food security, and increased disease transmission. Clearly, there is a need for a sustainable, carbon-free, and cost-effective method of energy production to meet growing energy production demands. The sun irradiates Earth’s surface annually with ~80,000 terawatts (TW), making solar …

Development Of A Point-Of-Use Testing Platform For Detecting Bacteria Infection In Raw Milk, Xin Xia

Masters Theses

The detection and quantification of bacteria are essential to environment and food quality monitoring. Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a common pathogen, also a causative agent of mastitis. Traditional methods usually require samples to be tested in a laboratory. However, sending samples to remote lab increases the cost of time and money spent on delivery. Sometimes, samples can degrade during this long progress and cause inaccuracy. A low cost and reusable sensor is designed to perform on-site quantification. The sensor composed of two layers of asymmetrical mesh electrodes, which is used in coordination magnetic microparticles functionalized with bacterium-specific antibody. Immunological …

Device Characterization Of Solar Inverters, Katelyn Alexandria Bolinsky

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Solar energy is one of the most significant research thrusts in the modern era. Solar inverters are devices used to convert the DC energy of sunlight into AC energy that can be used on the power grid. Typically, they contain silicon; however, new substances such as silicon carbide and gallium nitride are being tested. These materials could increase the efficiency of solar energy, decrease the overall cost, and are potentially more durable than silicon. In order to determine if these new substances can actually benefit the solar industry, they need to be characterized for different attributes with different parameters. As …

Development Of A Low Cost Biosensing Platform For Highly Sensitive And Specific On-Site Detection Of Pathogens And Infections, Cheng Cheng

Doctoral Dissertations

A highly sensitive, specific, real time, and field-deployable surveillance tool is critical to the control of pathogens and infections, as well as ecological impact of chemicals exposure. This work investigates the development of a low cost biosensing platform that can be used for viral disease diagnosis and chemical detection. The sensing mechanism is known as AC electrokinetics (ACEK) capacitive sensing. By applying an inhomogeneous AC electric field on sensor electrodes, positive dielectrophoresis is induced to accelerate the travel of analytes. The same applied AC signal also directly measures the capture of target by the probe on sensor surface. The realized …

Multi-Physics Modeling, Ahmadreza Ghahremani

Doctoral Dissertations

Having access to powerful processors allows scientists to carry out aggressive numerical computations to bridge the gaps which already exist among different fields of physics by exploring new multi-physics models to approach real life models of various phenomena happening around us in real life and accounting of the various coupling and dependence between the various physical parameters and material parameters.

Scientists greatly appreciate multi-physics modeling as they recognize:

1- Prototyping is expensive

2- Most of available CAD tools are not addressing the real model or accounting between the different physical parameters

3- Some difficulties to optimize the real model without …

Design And Implementation Of An Integrated Biosensor Platform For Lab-On-A-Chip Diabetic Care Systems, Khandaker Abdullah Al Mamun

Doctoral Dissertations

Recent advances in semiconductor processing and microfabrication techniques allow the implementation of complex microstructures in a single platform or lab on chip. These devices require fewer samples, allow lightweight implementation, and offer high sensitivities. However, the use of these microstructures place stringent performance constraints on sensor readout architecture. In glucose sensing for diabetic patients, portable handheld devices are common, and have demonstrated significant performance improvement over the last decade. Fluctuations in glucose levels with patient physiological conditions are highly unpredictable and glucose monitors often require complex control algorithms along with dynamic physiological data. Recent research has focused on long term …

Interface And Morphology Engineering In Solution-Processed Electronic And Optoelectronic Devices, Sanjib Das

Doctoral Dissertations

The first part of this dissertation focuses on interface and morphology engineering in polymer- and small molecule-based organic solar cells. High-performance devices were fabricated, and the device performance was correlated with nanoscale structures using various electrical, spectroscopic and microscopic characterization techniques, providing guidelines for high-efficiency cell design.

The second part focuses on perovskite solar cells (PSCs), an emerging photovoltaic technology with skyrocketing rise in power conversion efficiency (PCE) and currently showing comparable PCEs with those of existing thin film photovoltaic technologies such as CIGS and CdTe. Fabrication of large-area PSCs without compromising reproducibility and device PCE requires formation of dense, …

Alternating Current Electrokinetics Based Capacitive Affinity Biosensor: A Point-Of-Care Diagnostic Platform, Haochen Cui

Doctoral Dissertations

Capacitive bioaffinity detection using microelectrodes is considered as a promising label-free method for point-of-care diagnosis, though with challenges in sensitivity, specificity and the time “from sample to result.” This work presents an alternating current (AC)-electrokinetic based capacitive affinity sensing method that is capable of realizing rapid in-situ detection of specific biomolecular interactions such as probe-analyte binding. The capacitive biosensor presented here employs elevated AC potentials at a fixed frequency for impedimetric interrogation of the microelectrodes. Such an AC signal is capable of inducing dielectrophoresis (DEP) and AC electrothermal (ACET) effects, so as to realize in-situ enrichment of macro and even …

Development And Modeling Of A Biosensor Platform Using Algan/Gan Hemt Devices, Fahmida Shaheen Tulip

Doctoral Dissertations

The history of biosensors began in 1962 with the invention of enzyme electrodes by Leland C. Clark. Since then, biosensors have come a long way with simultaneous contributions in various fields such as biology, chemistry, material science, electronics, physics and VLSI. With the advancement in science and technology, smaller, more sensitive and dependable biosensors have become a reality. Still the need for cost-effective, sophisticated, reliable, robust biosensors that can be used to detect multiple types of biomolecules remains a technological challenge to be resolved.

The proposed AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) have excellent prospect to become the biosensor platform …

A Low-Power Approach For Front End Biological Signal Conditioning, Logan Smith Taylor

Masters Theses

In a lab-on-a-chip (LOC) application, the measurement of small analog signals such as local temperature variation often involves detection of very low-level signals in a noisy micro-scale environment. This is true for other biomedical monitoring systems as well. These systems observe various physiological parameters or electrochemical reactions that need to be tracked electrically. For temperature measurement pyroelectric transducers represent an efficient solution in terms of speed, sensitivity, and scale of integration, especially when prompt and accurate temperature monitoring is desired.

The ability to perform laboratory operations on a small scale using miniaturized LOC devices is a promising biosensing technique. The …

In-Line Microfluidic Particle Preconcentrator And Detector For Continuous Flow Monitoring, Quan Yuan

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents the design and prototyping of three in-line microfluidic devices for continuous monitoring of particulate flows. The three devices are AC electrokinetic (ACEK) and acoustic sample preconcentration techniques for resettable particle enrichment, and an in-line somatic cell counter for mastitis monitoring.

For the ACEK preconcentrator, ACEK is a new and promising technique to manipulate micro/bio-fluid and particles. There are many advantages over other techniques, such as low applied voltage, low cost, portability and notable biocompatibility of lab-on-a-chip (LOC) device. We successfully developed a 3D multi-level electrode platform to extract bioparticles via AC electroosmosis (ACEO) and negative Dielectrophoresis (DEP). …

Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition Of Semiconducting Boron Carbide Thin Films On Silicon, Thomas Gregory Wulz

Masters Theses

Boron carbide thin films were grown on the (100) plane of n-type silicon in a low pressure chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system from the thermal decomposition of boron trichloride and methane reactant gases with hydrogen as a carrier gas. Boron trichloride to methane molar ratio was 5, while the boron trichloride to hydrogen molar ratio was 3.5. Thin film deposition was carried out at 900 degrees Celsius at 25 Torr. The thin films were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS), Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), and current-voltage characteristics. The crystallography of …

A Sige Bicmos Lvds Driver For Space-Borne Applications, Matthew Ian Laurence

Masters Theses

When designing an integrated circuit for use during an interstellar mission, certain precautions must be made. The electronics on any off-earth mission will be exposed to wide temperature swings and harmful radiation due to being outside of the Earth’s protective ionosphere. It is crucial that any data path present be immune to these detrimental effects.

The introduction of galactic radiation can not only cause the onboard electronics to fail due to device degradation and single event latchup but can also lead to background radiation being coupled into the signal path as unwanted noise, degrading the signal to noise ratio. Unwanted …

Characterization And Implementation Of An Injection Locked Frequency Divider Based On Relaxation Oscillator, Kai Zhu

Doctoral Dissertations

There has been a dramatic increase in wireless awareness among the user community in the past few years. As the wireless communication devices require more integration in terms of both hardware and software, the low-power integrated circuit (IC) solution has gained higher dedication and will dominate in the future radio-frequency IC (RFIC) design. Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) process is extremely attractive for such applications because of its low cost and the possibility to integrate baseband and high frequency circuits on the same chip. The transceiver is often the most power-hungry block in a wireless communication system. The frequency divider (prescaler) …

Reliability Analysis Of Nanocrystal Embedded High-K Nonvolatile Memories, Chia-Han Yang

Doctoral Dissertations

The evolution of the MOSFET technology has been driven by the aggressive shrinkage of the device size to improve the device performance and to increase the circuit density. Currently, many research demonstrated that the continuous polycrystalline silicon film in the floating-gate dielectric could be replaced with nanocrystal (nc) embedded high-k thin film to minimize the charge loss due to the defective thin tunnel dielectric layer.

This research deals with both the statistical aspect of reliability and electrical aspect of reliability characterization as well. In this study, the Zr-doped HfO₂ (ZrHfO) high-k MOS capacitors, which separately contain the nanocrystalline zinc …

Design Of Wireless Power Transfer And Data Telemetry System For Biomedical Applications, Ashraf Bin Islam

Doctoral Dissertations

With the advancement of biomedical instrumentation technologies sensor based remote healthcare monitoring system is gaining more attention day by day. In this system wearable and implantable sensors are placed outside or inside of the human body. Certain sensors are needed to be placed inside the human body to acquire the information on the vital physiological phenomena such as glucose, lactate, pH, oxygen, etc. These implantable sensors have associated circuits for sensor signal processing and data transmission. Powering the circuit is always a crucial design issue. Batteries cannot be used in implantable sensors which can come in contact with the blood …

Modeling And Development Of A Mems Device For Pyroelectric Energy Scavenging, Salwa Mostafa

Doctoral Dissertations

As the world faces an energy crisis with depleting fossil fuel reserves, alternate energy sources are being researched ever more seriously. In addition to renewable energy sources, energy recycling and energy scavenging technologies are also gaining importance. Technologies are being developed to scavenge energy from ambient sources such as vibration, radio frequency and low grade waste heat, etc. Waste heat is the most common form of wasted energy and is the greatest potential source of energy scavenging.

Pyroelectricity is the property of some materials to change the surface charge distribution with the change in temperature. These materials produce current as …

Design Of A High-Voltage, Differential Drive Bradbury-Nielsen Gate Amplifier With Ultra-High Slew Rate And Input Isolation, Kevin Christopher Omoumi

Masters Theses

To isolate and study various components of a nuclear reaction, elaborate equipment must be developed to aid in this process. This thesis presents the design and implementation of an ultra-high slew rate Bradbury-Nielsen gate driver circuit with high-voltage input isolation. This design will be used in a multi-pass time-of-flight isomer spectrometer and separator application integrated into an overall instrument called the Oak Ridge Isomer Spectrometer and Separator (ORISS). The output drive signals of this circuit are transmitted through a vacuum feed-through system to supply the necessary signals to the Bradbury-Nielsen gate contained within the vacuum. A differential driving signal with …

Characterization And Fabrication Of Active Matrix Thin Film Transistors For An Addressable Microfluidic Electrowetting Channel Device, Seyeoul Kwon

Doctoral Dissertations

The characterization and fabrication of active matrix thin film transistors (TFTs) has been studied for an addressable microfluidic electrowetting channel device as application. A new transparent semiconductor material, Amorphous Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide (a-IGZO), is used for TFT, which shows high electrical performance rather than amorphous silicon based TFT; higher mobility and even higher transparency. The purpose of this dissertation is to optimize each TFT process including the optimization of a-IGZO properties to achieve robust device for application. To minimize hysteresis of TFT curves, the gate dielectric is discussed extensively in this dissertation. By optimizing gas ratio of NH3SiH4, it …