The technology evolution and complexity of new circuit applications involve emerging reliability problems and even more sensitivity of integrated circuits (ICs) to electrostatic discharge (ESD)-induced damage. Regardless of the aggressive evolution in downscaling and subsequent improvement in applications' performance, ICs still should comply with minimum standards of ESD robustness in order to be commercially viable. Although the topic of ESD has received attention industry-wide, the design of robust protection structures and circuits remains challenging because ESD failure mechanisms continue to become more acute and design windows less flexible. The sensitivity of smaller devices, along with a limited understanding of the ESD phenomena and the resulting empirical approach to solving the problem have yielded time consuming, costly and unpredictable design procedures. As turnaround design cycles in new technologies continue to decrease, the traditional trial-and-error design strategy is no longer acceptable, and better analysis capabilities and a systematic design approach are essential to accomplish the increasingly difficult task of adequate ESD protection-circuit design. This dissertation presents a comprehensive design methodology for implementing custom on-chip ESD protection structures in different commercial technologies. First, the ESD topic in the semiconductor industry is revised, as well as ESD standards and commonly used schemes to provide ESD protection in ICs. The general ESD protection approaches are illustrated and discussed using different types of protection components and the concept of the ESD design window. The problem of implementing and assessing ESD protection structures is addressed next, starting from the general discussion of two design methods. The first ESD design method follows an experimental approach, in which design requirements are obtained via fabrication, testing and failure analysis. The second method consists of the technology computer aided design (TCAD)-assisted ESD protection design. This method incorporates numerical simulations in different stages of the ESD design process, and thus results in a more predictable and systematic ESD development strategy. Physical models considered in the device simulation are discussed and subsequently utilized in different ESD designs along this study. The implementation of new custom ESD protection devices and a further integration strategy based on the concept of the high-holding, low-voltage-trigger, silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) (HH-LVTSCR) is demonstrated for implementing ESD solutions in commercial low-voltage digital and mixed-signal applications developed using complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) and bipolar CMOS (BiCMOS) technologies. This ESD protection concept proposed in this study is also successfully incorporated for implementing a tailored ESD protection solution for an emerging CMOS-based embedded MicroElectroMechanical (MEMS) sensor system-on-a-chip (SoC) technology. Circuit applications that are required to operate at relatively large input/output (I/O) voltage, above/below the VDD/VSS core circuit power supply, introduce further complications in the development and integration of ESD protection solutions. In these applications, the I/O operating voltage can extend over one order of magnitude larger than the safe operating voltage established in advanced technologies, while the IC is also required to comply with stringent ESD robustness requirements. A practical TCAD methodology based on a process- and device- simulation is demonstrated for assessment of the device physics, and subsequent design and implementation of custom P1N1-P2N2 and coupled P1N1-P2N2//N2P3-N3P1 silicon controlled rectifier (SCR)-type devices for ESD protection in different circuit applications, including those applications operating at I/O voltage considerably above/below the VDD/VSS. Results from the TCAD simulations are compared with measurements and used for developing technology- and circuit-adapted protection structures, capable of blocking large voltages and providing versatile dual-polarity symmetric/asymmetric S-type current-voltage characteristics for high ESD protection. The design guidelines introduced in this dissertation are used to optimize and extend the ESD protection capability in existing CMOS/BiCMOS technologies, by implementing smaller and more robust single- or dual-polarity ESD protection structures within the flexibility provided in the specific fabrication process. The ESD design methodologies and characteristics of the developed protection devices are demonstrated via ESD measurements obtained from fabricated stand-alone devices and on-chip ESD protections. The superior ESD protection performance of the devices developed in this study is also successfully verified in IC applications where the standard ESD protection approaches are not suitable to meet the stringent area constraint and performance requirement.

The supply chain is the underlying process which enablescompanies and customers to exchange goods and services. Centralto a functional supply chain is its resilience against disruptions.Resilience in the supply chain is its capability to prevent, manageand recover from disruptions. The last couple of years has beencharacterized by events that have caused disturbances in the supplychain. This study is set to research how two Swedish companieshave managed three specific disruptions, the Covid-19 pandemic,the blocking of the Suez Canal and the ongoing war in Ukraine. Thepurpose of this paper is to contribute with knowledge and researchabout resilience in the supply chain and how companies can adaptin a volatile world with unpredictable events that may occur. Themethod used consists of semi-structured interviews with the casecompanies and collection of literature and previous research withinthe research area. The results from the study presents that thecompany operating in the retail industry main strategy is tomaintain a transparent communication to its suppliers as well ascustomers in order to maintain a high level of certainty in its supplychain. The company operating in the forest industry explained inthe interview that the company prioritizes a high level of self-sufficiency in raw materials, energy and transportation in order tomaintain a high level of certainty in the supply chain. The resultalso explains that cooperation between the three abilities, prevent,manage and recover from disruptions is the foundation tomaintaining a high level of certainty in the supply chain. The studycontributes with insights on how companies are affected by andmanage the ongoing situation in Ukraine, with the supply chain as astarting point. / Försörjningskedjan är den bakomliggande processen som möjliggörför utbyte av varor och tjänster mellan företag och kunder. Centraltför en fungerande försörjningskedja är att den är resilient motstörningar. Resiliens i försörjningskedjan handlar om förmågan attförebygga, hantera och återhämta sig från störningar. De senasteåren har präglats av händelser som har orsakat störningar iförsörjningskedjan. Denna studie undersöker hur två svenskaföretag har hanterat tre specifika störningar, Covid-19 pandemin,stoppet i Suezkanalen samt det pågående kriget i Ukraina. Syftetmed detta arbete är att bidra till kunskapen och forskningen omresiliens i försörjningskedjor och hur företag kan anpassa sig till envolatil värld med oförutsägbara händelser som uppstår. Metodenutgörs av semistrukturerade intervjuer med fallföretagen ochinsamling av litteratur samt tidigare forskning inomforskningsområdet. Studiens resultat visar att företaget som verkarinom livsmedelsindustrin främst arbetar med att bibehållatransparent kommunikation till sina leverantörer och kunder för attupprätthålla en hög nivå av tillförlitlighet i sin försörjningskedja.Företaget som verkar i skogsindustrin anger i intervjun att företagetprioriterar en hög självförsörjningsgrad på råvaror, energi ochtransport för att upprätthålla en hög nivå av tillförlitlighet iförsörjningskedjan. Studiens resultat redogör dessutom attsamverkan mellan de tre förmågorna, förebygga, hantera ochåterhämta sig från störningar är grunden till att uppnå hög nivå avtillförlitlighet i försörjningskedjan. Studien bidrar bland annat medinsikter om hur företag påverkas och bemöter den rådandesituationen i Ukraina med försörjningskedjan som utgångspunkt.

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Although there are units larger than the word in language, linguists have not been able to agree on a definition of these units. This study examines a variety of notions, relevant in the study of ”fixed” or ”frozen” expressions in contemporary French. Criteria such as memorization, unique context, non-compositionality, marked syntax, lexical blocking and grammatical blocking are analyzed in detail. A closer look at them reveals that in fact only one of them, lexical blocking, is both necessary and sufficient in the description of a fixed expression. The other criteria are, however, also important to the notion of ”fixedness”. It may well be that the criteria that have often been proposed in linguistic literature would benefit from being organized in a family resemblance rather than being used as necessary and sufficient conditions.

In bacteria, protein synthesis can occur tightly coupled to transcription. In eukaryotes, it is believed that translation occurs solely in the cytoplasm; I test whether some occurs in nuclei and find: (1) L-azidohomoalanine (Aha) – a methionine analogue (detected by microscopy after attaching a fluorescent tag using ‘click’ chemistry) – is incorporated within 5 s into nuclei in a process sensitive to the translation inhibitor, anisomycin. (2) Puromycin – another inhibitor that end-labels nascent peptides (detected by immuno-fluorescence) – is similarly incorporated in a manner sensitive to a transcriptional inhibitor. (3) CD2 – a non-nuclear protein – is found in nuclei close to the nascent RNA that encodes it (detected by combining indirect immuno-labelling with RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization using intronic probes); faulty (nascent) RNA is destroyed by a quality-control mechanism sensitive to translational inhibitors. I conclude that substantial translation occurs in the nucleus, with some being closely coupled to transcription and the associated proof-reading. Moreover, most peptides made in both the nucleus and cytoplasm are degraded soon after they are made with half-lives of about one minute. I also collaborated on two additional projects: the purification of mega-complexes (transcription ‘factories’) containing RNA polymerases I, II, or III (I used immuno-fluorescence to confirm that each contained the expected constituents), and the demonstration that some ‘factories’ specialize in transcribing genes responding to tumour necrosis factor α – a cytokine that signals through NFκB (I used RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization coupled with immuno-labelling to show active NFκB is found in factories transcribing responsive genes).

General lighting with InGaN light emitting diodes (LEDs) as light sources is of particular interest in terms of energy savings and related environmental benefits due to high lighting efficiency, long lifetime, and Hg-free nature. Incandescent and fluorescent light sources are used for general lighting almost everywhere. But their lighting efficiency is very limited: only 20-30 lm/W for incandescent lighting bulb, approximately 100 lm/W for fluorescent lighting. State-of-the-art InGaN LEDs with a luminous efficacy of over 200 lm/W at room temperature have been reported. However, the goal of replacing the incandescent and fluorescent lights with InGaN LEDs is still elusive since their lighting efficiency decreases substantially when the injection current increases beyond certain values (typically 10-50 Acm-2). In order to improve the electroluminescence (EL) performance at high currents for InGaN LEDs, two approaches have been undertaken in this thesis. First, we explored the preparation and characterization of non-polar and semi-polar GaN substrates (including a-plane, m-plane and semi-polar planes). These substrates serve as promising alternatives to the commonly used c-plane, with the benefit of a reduced polarization-induced electric field and therefore higher quantum efficiency. It is demonstrated that LEDs on m-plane GaN substrates have inherently higher EL quantum efficiency and better efficiency retention ability at high injection currents than their c-plane counterparts. Secondly, from a device structure level, we explored the possible origins of the EL efficiency degradation at high currents in InGaN LEDs and investigated the effect of hot electrons on EL of LEDs by varying the barrier height of electron blocking layer. A first-order theoretical model is proposed to explain the effect of electron overflow caused by hot electron transport across the LED active region on LED EL performance. The calculation results are in agreement with experimental observations. Furthermore, a novel structure called a “staircase electron injector” (SEI) is demonstrated to effectively thermalize hot electrons, thereby reducing the reduction of EL efficiency due to electron overflow. The SEI features several InyGa1-yN layers, with their In fraction (y) increasing in a stepwise manner, starting with a low value at the first step near the junction with n-GaN.

Die Herstellung von verspannten Schichten mittels Heteroepitaxie gewinnt in der aktuellen Festkörperphysik zunehmend an Bedeutung, insbesondere wenn es gelingt, Schichten mit unterschiedlichen Gitterparametern in hoher kristalliner Perfektion, wie sie für die Herstellung elektronischer Bauelemente notwendig ist, aufeinander abzuscheiden. Der Einsatz verspannter Schichtsysteme erlaubt es, bestimmte Materialeigenschaften, wie die Ladungsträgerbeweglichkeiten und den Bandabstand, gezielt zu beeinflussen. Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde die frühe Phase der Relaxation von dünnen verspannten metastabilen Silizium-Germanium-Mischkristallschichten auf (001)-Siliziumsubstrat untersucht. Derartige metastabile Schichten bilden bei Temperaturbehandlung sogenannte Fehlanpassungsversetzungen aus. Die Ausbildung dieser Versetzungen in makroskopischer Ausdehnung in nahezu perfekt kristallinen Materialien setzt einen Nukleationsvorgang und die Ausbreitung durch Gleiten bzw. Klettern voraus. Diese Vorgänge wurden am o.g. Materialsystem systematisch untersucht. Die Untersuchung außerordentlich geringer Versetzungsdichten erfolgte mittels in-situ und ex-situ Röntgentopographie sowie ergänzender Messungen mittels hochauflösender Röntgendiffraktometrie. Die Plane-view-Transmissionselektronenmikroskopie sowie Atomkraftmikroskopie ergänzten die Experimente auf der damit möglichen Längenskala insbesondere für die Beurteilung des Verhaltens von sich kreuzenden Versetzungen. Es wurden Versetzungsgleitgeschwindigkeiten in Abhängigkeit von verschiedenen Fremdstoffkonzentrationen und Epitaxieverfahren gemessen. Ein signifikante Einfluß dieser Verfahren auf die Gleitgeschwindigkeit konnte nicht nachgewiesen werden, jedoch veringert der Sauerstoffgehalt einiger Proben die Versetzungsgleitgeschwindigkeit. Eine Kohlenstoffdotierung von 0,1% führt bei Einbau auf Gitterplätzen zu keinem messbaren Einfluß auf die Ausbreitungsgeschwindigkeit von Fehlanpassungsversetzungen. Der Prozess der Nukleation von Versetzungen wurde durch die heterogene Nukleation an Einzeldefekten, deren Vorhandensein stark vom Epitaxieverfahren abhängt, dominiert. Dies wurde an einer Vielzahl von Proben verifiziert. Die Aktivität der einzelnen Nukleationszentren ist sehr unterschiedlich und lässt sich nur durch ein "Spektrum" von Nukleationszentren unterschiedlicher "Stärke" erklären. Starke Nukleationszentren können bis ca 100 Versetzungen, die zusammen Versetzungsbündel bilden, induzieren. Die Nukleationszentren werden sequentiell aktiviert. Es wurde gezeigt, dass Laserbeschuss schwache Zentren "aktiviert" und eine damit eine sehr gleichmäßige Relaxation von Schichten möglich wird. Durch in-situ-Beobachtungen konnte erstmals röntgentopografisch der Prozess des Versetzungsblockierens und des Quergleitens an sich kreuzenden Versetzungsbündeln über einen großen Skalenbereich verfolgt werden.Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Zweikristall-Röntgentopografie ein geeignetes Verfahren zur Untersuchung großer teilrelaxierter Proben mit extrem geringem Relaxationsgrad darstellt. / The deposition of metastable layers by means of heteroepitaxy is gaining more and more in importance in current solid state physics, especially if it is possible to deposit layers with rather different lattice parameters in perfect quality, necessary for the fabrication of electronic devices and semiconductor technology. The use of such layer systems enables to controlling specific material properties, for example the mobility of charge carriers and the energy gap. Within the framework of this work the early stages of the relaxation of very thin strained silicon-germanium layers deposited onto (001)silicon substrates were investigated. Such metastable layers create so-called misfit dislocations at annealing. The formation of dislocations in nearly perfect materials as silicon in macroscopic extension presumes a nucleation process and the propagation by means of gliding and/or climbing of the threading segments. These processes were investigated systematically at silicon-germanium-films on silicon substrates as a modelsystem. Very low densities of dislocations were investigated by in-situ and ex-situ X-ray topography as well as high resolution X-ray diffractometry. Plane-view transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy complemented the experiments in order to study the behavior at the dislocation crossings at smaller length scale. Dislocation glide rates were measured at different concentrations of impurities (e.g. carbon) in the sample and for different growth techniques. There was no significant influence of the epitaxial method on the glide velocities but a very low amount of oxygen decreases the the velocity effectively. A low density of carbon (0,1%) wich occcupy silicon or germanium lattice sites had no significant influence on the propagation of dislocations. The process of nucleation is dominated by heterogeneous nucleation as was verified at a large number of samples and varies in detail for different epitaxial depostion methods. The activity of single nucleation centers is rather different and can interpreted with a "spectrum" of centers of different strength. A strong center can induce as many as 100 dislocations. These dislocations form bunches of dislocations as was observed with X-ray topography. The centers are sequentially activated. This was demonstrated at samples where a pretreatment with an excimer laser "activated" weak centers thereby inducing a comparatively homogeneous distribution of dislocations. By means of in-situ synchrotron radiation experiments the prozesses of propagation, blocking and crossslip could be observed for the first time in large areas of samples. The double crystal X-ray topography is a suitable method to observe these processes in comparatively large samples with a very low degree of relaxation.

The growth in the number of wireless devices and applications underscores the need for characterizing and mitigating interference induced problems such as distortion and blocking. A typical interference scenario involves the detection of a small amplitude signal of interest (SOI) in the presence of a large amplitude interfering signal; it is desirable to attenuate the interfering signal while preserving the integrity of SOI and an appropriate dynamic range. If the frequency of the interfering signal varies or is unknown, an adaptive notch function must be applied in order to maintain adequate attenuation. This work explores the performance space of a phase cancellation technique used in implementing the desired notch function for communication systems in the 1-3 GHz frequency range. A system level model constructed with MATLAB and related simulation results assist in building the theoretical foundation for setting performance bounds on the implemented solution and deriving hardware specifications for the RF notch subsystem devices. Simulations and measurements are presented for a Low Noise Amplifer (LNA), voltage variable attenuators, bandpass filters and phase shifters. Ultimately, full system tests provide a measure of merit for this work as well as invaluable lessons learned. The emphasis of this project is the on-wafer LNA measurements, dependence of IC system performance on mismatches and overall system performance tests. Where possible, predictions are plotted alongside measured data. The reasonable match between the two validates system and component models and more than compensates for the painstaking modeling efforts. Most importantly, using the signal to interferer ratio (SIR) as a figure of merit, experimental results demonstrate up to 58 dB of SIR improvement. This number represents a remarkable advancement in interference rejection at RF or microwave frequencies.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:33:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jaime Goncalves Filho.pdf: 863240 bytes, checksum: e960a09eb78ee2841ff94326cf87aa72 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-08-13 / This dissertation has for object of study the Provisional Measure 168/90 which served as the political and economic instrument for a specific context, namely, the Collor administration. It will analyze, therefore, the legal limits existing at the time of the mentioned Provisional Measure, weighing the economic needs and the legal system in force, and will account for the decisions of the courts that evaluated the constitutionality and legality of the seizure of assets. The Provisional Measure 168/90, put in place to serve economic and political interests during the Collor administration, with the goal of comparing such measures with the existing legal limits in order to come to a conclusion on the illegality of these facts. / A presente dissertação tem por objeto de estudo analisar a Medida Provisória 168/90 que serviu de instrumento político-econômico para um contexto específico, qual seja, o governo Collor. Analisar-se-á, portanto, os limites jurídicos existentes à época da mencionada Medida Provisória, sopesando as necessidades econômicas e a ordem jurídica vigente, fazendo, inclusive, menção às decisões dos Tribunais que apreciaram a constitucionalidade e legalidade do bloqueio de haveres. A Medida Provisória 168/90 foi manejada em razão de interesses econômicos e políticos durante o governo Collor, de modo a cotejar tais medidas com os limites jurídicos existentes, a fim de concluir sobre a ilicitude desses fatos.

In this work, multi-band (multi-color) detector structures considering different semiconductor device concepts and architectures are presented. Results on detectors operating in ultraviolet-to-infrared regions (UV-to-IR) are discussed. Multi-band detectors are based on quantum dot (QD) structures; which include quantum-dots-in-a-well (DWELL), tunneling quantum dot infrared photodetectors (T-QDIPs), and bi-layer quantum dot infrared photodetectors (Bi-QDIPs); and homo-/heterojunction interfacial workfunction internal photoemission (HIWIP/HEIWIP) structures. QD-based detectors show multi-color characteristics in mid- and far-infrared (MIR/FIR) regions, where as HIWIP/HEIWIP detectors show responses in UV or near-infrared (NIR) regions, and MIR-to-FIR regions. In DWELL structures, InAs QDs are placed in an InGaAs/GaAs quantum well (QW) to introduce photon induced electronic transitions from energy states in the QD to that in QW, leading to multi-color response peaks. One of the DWELL detectors shows response peaks at ∼ 6.25, ∼ 10.5 and ∼ 23.3 µm. In T-QDIP structures, photoexcited carriers are selectively collected from InGaAs QDs through resonant tunneling, while the dark current is blocked using AlGaAs/InGaAsAlGaAs/ blocking barriers placed in the structure. A two-color T-QDIP with photoresponse peaks at 6 and 17 µm operating at room temperature and a 6 THz detector operating at 150 K are presented. Bi-QDIPs consist of two layers of InAs QDs with different QD sizes. The detector exhibits three distinct peaks at 5.6, 8.0, and 23.0 µm. A typical HIWIP/HEIWIP detector structure consists of a single (or series of) doped emitter(s) and undoped barrier(s), which are placed between two highly doped contact layers. The dual-band response arises from interband transitions of carriers in the undoped barrier and intraband transitions in the doped emitter. Two HIWIP detectors, p-GaAs/GaAs and p-Si/Si, showing interband responses with wavelength thresholds at 0.82 and 1.05 µm, and intraband responses with zero response thresholds at 70 and 32 µm, respectively, are presented. HEIWIP detectors based on n-GaN/AlGaN show an interband response in the UV region and intraband response in the 2-14 µm region. A GaN/AlGaN detector structure consisting of three electrical contacts for separate UV and IR active regions is proposed for simultaneous measurements of the two components of the photocurrent generated by UV and IR radiation.