In the wireless sensor network environment (WSN), the system transmits signals often need to rely on the stability and reliability of the relay node of each path of cooperation with each other to achieve balance between leisure and stability. In general, relay adopted Amplify-and-Forward (AF) and Decode-and-Forward (DF) to relaying the signal to destination. Unfortunately, in reality, the relay node itself had a problem of limited energy supplies, would make the overall performance degrade before reaching the optimal performance. Therefore, we propose two novel relay selection schemes and through the multi-hop transmission with cooperation. We also derived the optimal power allocation algorithms for all relay nodes. Finally, simulation results show that our proposed scheme obtained the better lifetime and performance where compared with the traditional schemes in a fair environment.

Time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy (TRFS) is a powerful analytical tool for quantifying the biochemical composition of organic and inorganic materials. The potentials of TRFS as nondestructive clinical tool for tissue diagnosis have been recently demonstrated. To facilitate the translation of TRFS technology to the clinical arena, algorithms for online TRFS data analysis are of great need. A fast model-free TRFS deconvolution algorithm based on the Laguerre expansion method has been previously introduced, demonstrating faster performance than standard multiexponential methods, and the ability to estimate complex fluorescence decay without any a-priori assumption of its functional form. One limitation of this method, however, was the need to select, a priori, the Laguerre parameter a and the expansion order, which are crucial for accurate estimation of the fluorescence decay. In this thesis, a new implementation of the Laguerre deconvolution method is introduced, in which a nonlinear least-square optimization of the Laguerre parameter is performed, and the selection of optimal expansion order is attained based on a Minimum Description Length (MDL) criterion. In addition, estimation of the zero-time delay between the recorded instrument response and fluorescence decay is also performed based on a normalized means square error criterion. The method was fully validated on fluorescence lifetime, endogenous tissue fluorophores, and human tissue. The automated Laguerre deconvolution method is expected to facilitate online applications of TRFS, such as clinical real-time tissue diagnosis.

Recent growth of the Internet in both scale and complexity has imposed a number of difficult challenges on existing measurement techniques and approaches, which are essential for both network management and many ongoing research projects. For any measurement algorithm, achieving both accuracy and scalability is very challenging given hard resource constraints (e.g., bandwidth, delay, physical memory, and CPU speed). My dissertation research tackles this problem by first proposing a novel mechanism called residual sampling, which intentionally introduces a predetermined amount of bias into the measurement process. We show that such biased sampling can be extremely scalable; moreover, we develop residual estimation algorithms that can unbiasedly recover the original information from the sampled data. Utilizing these results, we further develop two versions of the residual sampling mechanism: a continuous version for characterizing the user lifetime distribution in large-scale peer-to-peer networks and a discrete version for monitoring flow statistics (including per-flow counts and the flow size distribution) in high-speed Internet routers. For the former application in P2P networks, this work presents two methods: ResIDual-based Estimator (RIDE), which takes single-point snapshots of the system and assumes systems with stationary arrivals, and Uniform RIDE (U-RIDE), which takes multiple snapshots and adapts to systems with arbitrary (including non-stationary) arrival processes. For the latter application in traffic monitoring, we introduce Discrete RIDE (D-RIDE), which allows one to sample each flow with a geometric random variable. Our numerous simulations and experiments with P2P networks and real Internet traces confirm that these algorithms are able to make accurate estimation about the monitored metrics and simultaneously meet the requirements of hard resource constraints. These results show that residual sampling indeed provides an ideal solution to balancing between accuracy and scalability.

This thesis presents fabrication of shunt, capacitive contact type RF MEMS switches which are designed according to given mm-wave performance specifications. The designed switches are modified for investigation in terms of reliability and lifetime. To observe the real-time performance of switches a time domain measurement setup is established and a CV (capacitance vs. voltage) curve measurement system is also included to measure CV curves, pull-in and hold-down voltages and the shifts of these due to actuations. By using the established setup reliability and lifetime measurements under different bias waveforms in different environments are performed. After investigation for the most suitable condition for improving lifetime long-term tests are performed and the outstanding result of more than 885 hours of operation under cycling bias waveform is obtained.

The sol-gel-derived lead titanate (PbTiO3) membrane has been successfully applied as a novel pH-sensing layer to form the PbTiO3 gate ISFET (ion-sensitive field-effect transistor). There exhibit the excellent quasi-Nernstian response of 55-58 mV/pH, good surface adsorption and anticorrosion characteristics via the capacitance- voltage measurement of the electrolyte-insulator-semiconductor structure. At a specific pH concentration, the output and transfer characteristics of the PbTiO3 gate ISFET are very similar to the behaviours of MOSFETs (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors), and the pH-ISFET model can be derived by the modified MOSFET model. As it operated in the nonsaturation region, there exhibits a linear pH response of about 55-58 mV/pH. Simultaneously, there exhibit the stable response time of 2-4 minutes, the drift of 0.5-1 mV/h, the hysteresis of 3-5 mV and the reduction rate of about ¡V10 mV/pH-day. On the other hand, as it operated in the saturation region, the pH responses and linearity can be controlled by adjusting the VGS values, e.g. the absolute pH response of 4.2, 24.8 and 31.3 uA/pH and the correlation coefficients of 0.9491, 0.9995 and 0.9996 at VGS= 1, 3 and 5 V can be obtained, respectively. Besides, the PbTiO3 gate ISFET has been modified by doping the Mg2+ and La3+ impurities into the PbTiO3 membrane. As a result, the former is a great benefit to improve the pH-sensing characteristics, which exhibits the pH response of 58-59 mV/pH, the drift of below 0.4 mV/h, the hysteresis of 1-3 mV and the reduction rate of -0.2 mV/pH-day. Finally, a digital pH meter has been successfully developed.

Though relatively young, the field of organic electronics is a rapidly growing market and considerable research is being done in creating a whole range of devices from organic molecules from organic field effect transistors to LEDs to photovoltaic devices. The field of organic photovoltaic in particular has become important in recent years with the push for newer, renewable sources of energy to end the dependence on fossil fuels. While the efficiencies of organic photovoltaic devices continue to rise, one barrier to their commercial adoption has been the limited lifetimes of these devices. While certain degradation methods of organic photovoltaics, such as photo-oxidation, have been extensively studied and solutions to these problems, such as encapsulation, are being researched, certain other degradation mechanisms are less understood and studied. The focus of this thesis is on one such degradation mechanism, UV degradation, specific to the ITO-pentacene interface in pentacene/C60 organic photovoltaic devices. Attempts were made to increase the lifetime of the devices by using phosphonic acids or oxygen plasma to modify the surface of the ITO. While conducting these experiments, the lack of a system to test the lifetime of multiple devices for long periods of time became apparent. As such as system was a requirement for future research into the lifetimes of organic photovoltaic devices a system was designed and built. The system would operate the photovoltaic device in a way comparable to its end-use and would allow over 100 devices to be tested simultaneously for durations exceeding 10,000 hours if necessary. This system would allow for statistically significant lifetime testing to be carried out in the future.

Den Fokus dieser Arbeit bildet die Untersuchung und die konzeptionelle Verbesserung der wichtigsten Eigenschaften organischer Leuchtdioden (OLED) – die Lebensdauer und die Quantenausbeute, welche sich durch die interne und externe Quanteneffizienz kategorisieren lässt. Es werden monochrome pin- Strukturen betrachtet, welche die Basis für Displays und weiße Multifarben- OLEDs darstellen. Die Auswirkung der Ladungsbalance auf die interne Quanteneffizienz wird untersucht. Dabei finden Triplettemitter Verwendung, da diese aus spinstatistischen Gründen viermal effizienter als fluoreszente Substanzen sind. Für hohe Effizienzen ist die ambipolare Ladungs- und Exzitonenverteilung in der Emissionsschicht mit breiter und zentraler Rekombinationszone anzustreben. Dies wird durch einen energetisch barrierefreien Schichtaufbau über die Auswahl der Matrix-, Blocker- und Transportmaterialien bezüglich geeigneter Transportniveaus und Ladungsträgerbeweglichkeiten erreicht. Bei roten OLEDs wird durch den Austausch des Lochblockers mit geeignetem LUMO die Elektroneninjektion in die löcherleitende Emissionsschicht erhöht und dadurch die Ladungsbalance maximiert. Damit werden externe Quanteneffizienzen von 20% erzielt, was dem Maximum der internen Quanteneffizienz von 100% entspricht. Des Weiteren werden neue Konzepte zur höheren Lichtauskopplung entwickelt. Aufgrund interner Totalreflexionen bleiben 80% der Photonen in Organikund Substratmoden gefangen was die externe Quanteneffizienz begrenzt. Eine deutliche Reduzierung dieser Moden wird bei OLEDs mit stärkeren Mikrokavitäten durch ITO/Silber-Anoden festgestellt. Die energetische und räumliche Umverteilung der Photonen verringert Totalreflexionen womit die Auskopplung bzw. die externe Quanteneffizienz um den Faktor 1,5 erhöht wird. Für rote OLEDs werden dadurch Rekordwerte von 26% externer Quanteneffizienz und einer Leistungseffizienz von 81 lm/W erzielt. Die auftretende winkelabhängige Farbverschiebung kann durch streuende Mikrolinsenfolien reduziert werden. Für verbesserte Auskopplung ohne Farbverschiebung werden Streukonzepte mit rauen Schichten getestet. Kristalline Schichten innerhalb der Organik beeinflussen allerdings den elektrischen Teil der OLED. Dies wird durch extrinsische Verlagerung der Streuschicht ausgeschlossen. Weiterhin wird die intrinsische Degradation von OLEDs mit phosphoreszenten Iridium-Emittern untersucht. Als Hauptursache werden strominduzierte chemische Reaktionen zwischen Emittermolekülen und anderen umgebenden Substanzen identifiziert. Die Akkumulation von Ladungsträgern und Exzitonen fördert diese Reaktionen. Als Zerstörungsmechanismus wird die Dissoziation der Iridium-Emitter mit folgender irreversibler Komplexbildung der Fragmente mit Umgebungsmaterialien wie dem Lochblocker festgestellt. Die OLED-Lebensdauer korreliert dabei doppelt- logarithmisch mit der Anzahl der Komplexe. Die chemische Reaktivität der Umgebungsmaterialien bestimmt die Stärke der Komplexbildung. Mit inerten Substanzen konnte bei roten OLEDs mit 10 Millionen Stunden bei Display-Helligkeit ein Weltrekord erzielt werden. Die geringe Degradation erfordert Extrapolationsmethoden. Es wird ein gestreckt exponentielles Verhalten der Helligkeitsabnahme beobachtet. Eine neue Fehleranalyse der Extrapolation ermöglicht die Angabe von Lebensdauer-Infima bei sehr stabilen OLEDs.

Organic solar cells promise electricity generation at very low cost, and higher installation flexibility as compared to inorganic solar cells. The lower cost is achieved by cheaper semiconductors and easier manufacturing processes. The flexibility is naturally given by these ultra-thin, amorphous layers. Also the power conversion efficiency can be high enough for many applications. The organic molecules have to withstand the constant excitation by photons, transport of energy in form of excitons and charge. A small but significant amount of these photons has energy over the absorption gap, the excess of energy must be released without breaking the molecular bonds. In consequence, the solar cells can also heat up to temperatures at above 80°C. The objective of this work is to answer the question if the small molecules organic solar cells can be stable enough to operate under a very long time. The stability of organic doped layers in an organic solar cell is also addressed. This work starts with a general introduction followed by the description of the experimental procedures. The aging experiments of the solar cell were done with a self developed equipment. The fabrication of this equipment (a set of measurement boxes) was necessary to maintain the conditions, under which a solar cell can be aged, as constant as possible. The measurement boxes were used to control the electrical load of the cell, its temperature, the illumination intensity, and its electric connection to the IxV measurement equipment. A software package was also developed to control the equipment and to facilitate the work and visualization of the high volume of collected data. The model solar cells chosen for the aging experiments were donor-acceptor heterojunctions devices formed with the well-known materials C60 and ZnPc. Two basic different structures were analyzed, because they offered reasonable performance and potentially long lifetime: the flat heterojunction (FHJ) and the mixed heterojunction in a Metal-Insulator-p-Semiconductor (m-i-p) configuration. Variations of the FHJ and of the m-i-p structures are also used to verify the limits of the stability of electrically p- and n- doped organic semiconducting layers. The least stable solar cells are the FHJ devices. These devices show a fast initial decrease of all their characteristic conversion parameters but the Voc. After a few hundred hours, the saturation current (current under a reverse bias of 1 V) was almost stable. The saturation current is related to the number of absorbing centers, the decrease indicates that the degradation of the absorbing centers has stopped. With wavelength resolved external quantum efficiency measurements and chemical analysis, it was found that the degradation is related to the oxidation of C60. It was also shown that the use of organic dopants do not significantly affect the lifetime. The results show that the m-i-p solar cells are more stable than the FHJ devices. They are also stable under high temperatures up to 105°C. Outdoor testing also showed that the solar cells remained chemically, electrically and mechanically stable during a 900 h test.

Silicon carbide (SiC) is currently under development for high power bipolar devices such as insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs). A major issue for these devices is the charge carrier lifetime, which, in the absence of structural defects such as dislocations, is influenced by point defects and their associated deep levels. These defects provide energy levels within the bandgap and may act as either recombination or trapping centers, depending on whether they interact with both conduction and valence band or only one of the two bands. Of all deep levels know in 4H-SiC, the intrinsic carbon vacancy related Z1/2 is the most problematic since it is a very effective recombination center which is unavoidably formed during growth. Its concentration in the epilayer can be decreased for the production of high voltage devices by injecting interstitial carbon, for example by oxidation, which, however, results in the formation of other new deep levels. Apart from intrinsic crystal flaws, extrinsic defects such as transition metals may also produce deep levels within the bandgap, which in literature have so far only been shown to produce trapping effects. The focus of the thesis is the transient electrical and optical characterization of deep levels in SiC and their influence on the carrier lifetime. For this purpose, deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and minority carrier transient spectroscopy (MCTS) variations were used in combination with time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL). Paper 1 deals with a lifetime limiting deep level related to Fe-incorporation in n-type 4H-SiC during growth and papers 2 and 3 focus on identifying the main intrinsic recombination center in p-type 4H-SiC. In paper 4, the details of the charge carrier capture behavior of the deeper donor levels of the carbon vacancy, EH6/7, are investigated. Paper 5 deals with trapping effects created by unwanted incorporation of high amounts of boron during growth of n-type 4H-SiC which hinders the measurement of the carrier lifetime by room temperature TRPL. Finally, paper 6 is concerned with the characterization of oxidation-induced deep levels created in n- and p-type 4H- and 6H-SiC as a side-product of lifetime improvement by oxidation. In paper 1, the appearance of a new recombination center in n-type 4H-SiC, the RB1 level is discussed and the material is analyzed using room temperature TRPL, DLTS and pnjunction DLTS. The level appears to originate from a reactor contamination with Fe, a transition metal that generally leads to the formation of several trapping centers in the bandgap. Here it is found that under specific circumstances beneficial to the growth of high-quality material with a low Z1/2 concentration, the Fe incorporation also creates an additional recombination center capable of limiting the carrier lifetime. In paper 2, all deep levels found in p-type 4H-SiC grown at Linköping University which are accessible by DLTS and MCTS are investigated with regard to their efficiency as recombination centers. We find that none of the detectable levels is able to reduce carrier lifetime in p-type significantly, which points to the lifetime killer being located in the top half of the bandgap and having a large hole to electron capture cross section ratio (such as Z1/2, which is found in n-type material), making it undetectable by DLTS and MCTS. Paper 3 compares carrier lifetimes measured by temperature-dependent TRPL measurements in n- and p-type 4H-SiC and it is shown that the lifetime development over a large temperature range (77 - 1000 K) is similar in both types. This is interpreted as a further indication that the carbon vacancy related Z1/2 level is the main lifetime killer in p-type. In paper 4, the hole and electron capture cross sections of the near midgap deep levels EH6/7 are characterized. Both levels are capable of rapid electron capture but have only small hole capture rates, making them insignificant as recombination centers, despite their advantageous position near midgap. Minority carrier trapping by boron, which is both a p-type dopant and an unavoidable contaminant in 4H-SiC grown by CVD, is investigated in paper 5. Since even the shallow boron acceptor levels are relatively deep in the bandgap, minority trap and-release effects are detectable in room-temperature TRPL measurements. In case a high density of boron exists in n-type 4H-SiC, for example leached out from damaged graphite reactor parts during growth, we demonstrate that these trapping effects may be misinterpreted in room temperature TRPL measurements as a long free carrier lifetime. Paper 6 uses MCTS, DLTS, and room temperature TRPL to characterize the oxidation induced deep levels ON1 and ON2 in n- and p-type 4H- and their counterparts OS1-OS3 in 6H-SiC. The levels are found to all be positive-U, coupled two-levels defects which trap electrons efficiently but exhibit very inefficient hole capture once the defect is fully occupied by electrons. It is shown that these levels are incapable of significantly influencing carrier lifetime in epilayers which underwent high temperature lifetime enhancement oxidations. Due to their high density after oxidation and their high thermal stability they may, however, act to compensate n-type doping in low-doped material.

Fluorescence diffuse optical tomography provides non-invasive, in vivo imaging of molecular targets in small animals. While standard fluorescence microscopy is limited to shallow depths and small fields of view, tomographic methods allows recovery of the distribution of fluorescent probes throughout the small animal body. In this thesis, we present novel reconstruction algorithms for the tomographic separation of optical parameters using time-domain (TD) measurements. These technique are validated using simulations and with experimental phantom and mouse imaging studies. We outline the contributions of each chapter of the thesis below. First, we explore the TD fluorescence tomography reconstruction problem for single and multiple fluorophores with discrete lifetimes. We focus on late arriving photons and compare a direct inversion approach with a two-step, asymptotic approach operating on the same TD data. We show that for lifetime multiplexing, the two methods produce fundamentally different kinds of solutions. The direct inversion is computationally inefficient and results in poor separation but has overall higher resolution while the asymptotic approach provides better separation, relative quantitation of lifetime components and localization but has overall lower resolution. We verify these results with simulation and experimental phantoms. Second, we introduce novel high resolution lifetime multiplexing algorithms which combine asymptotic methods for separation of fluorophores with the high resolving power of early photon tomography. We show the effectiveness of such methods to achieve high resolution reconstructions of multiple fluorophores in simulations with complex-shaped phantoms, a digital mouse atlas and also experimentally in fluorescent tube phantoms. Third, we compare the performance of tomographic spectral and lifetime multiplexing. We show that both of these techniques involve a two-step procedure, consisting of a diffuse propagation step and a basis-function mixing step. However, in these two techniques, the order of the two steps is switched, which leads to a fundamental difference in imaging performance. As an illustration of this difference, we show that the relative concentrations of three colocalized fluorophores in a diffuse medium can accurately be retrieved with lifetime methods but cannot be retrieved with spectral methods. Fourth, we address the long standing challenge in diffuse optical tomography (DOT) of cross-talk between absorption and scattering. We extend the ideas developed from lifetime multiplexing algorithms by using a constrained optimization approach for separation of absorption and scattering in DOT. Using custom designed phantoms, we demonstrate a novel technique allows better separation of absorption and scattering inclusions compared to existing algorithms for CW and TD diffuse optical tomography. Finally, we show experimental validation of the lifetime multiplexing algorithms developed in this thesis using three experimental models. First, we show the reconstruction of overlapping complex shapes in a dish phantom. Second, we demonstrate the localization accuracy of lifetime based methods using fluorescent pellets embedded in a sacrificed mouse. Third, we show using planar imaging and tomography, the in vivo recovery of multiple anatomically targeted near-infrared fluorophores. In summary, we have presented novel reconstruction algorithms and experimental methods that extend the capability of time-domain fluorescence diffuse optical tomography systems. The methods developed in this thesis should also have applicability for general multi-parameter image reconstruction problems. / Engineering and Applied Sciences