Graduation date: 1994

Graduation date: 1991

Carbon materials are commonly studied as the electrode material for electrochemical double layer capacitance (EDLC) due to their high surface area. The present work aimed to leverage both EDLC and pseudocapacitance through chemical modification of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and onion-like carbon (OLC) with polyoxometalates (POMs) to further enhance the performance of these electrodes. Layer-by-layer (LbL) deposition of two commercially available POMs (PMo12O403- and SiMo12O404-) and three synthesized POMs (PMo11VO404-, PMo10V2O405- and PMo9V3O406-) has been investigated. A single-layer of POMs increased the area specific capacitance by approximately three-times, while superimposing of these POMs into two-layer coatings increased the capacitance by approximately five-times. The morphology and composition of these composite materials were investigated using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS).

Carbon materials are commonly studied as the electrode material for electrochemical double layer capacitance (EDLC) due to their high surface area. The present work aimed to leverage both EDLC and pseudocapacitance through chemical modification of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and onion-like carbon (OLC) with polyoxometalates (POMs) to further enhance the performance of these electrodes. Layer-by-layer (LbL) deposition of two commercially available POMs (PMo12O403- and SiMo12O404-) and three synthesized POMs (PMo11VO404-, PMo10V2O405- and PMo9V3O406-) has been investigated. A single-layer of POMs increased the area specific capacitance by approximately three-times, while superimposing of these POMs into two-layer coatings increased the capacitance by approximately five-times. The morphology and composition of these composite materials were investigated using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS).

Due to continued transistor scaling, work function tuning of metal gates has become important for advanced CMOS applications. Specifically, this research has been undertaken to discover the tuning of the MoxSiyNz gate work function through the incorporation of nitrogen. Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) capacitors were fabricated using thermal SiO2 as gate oxide on lightly doped p-type Si wafer. A molybdenum silicide (MoSi2) target was reactively sputtered at 10mTorr in presence of N2 and Ar. The gas flow ratio, RN = N2/ (N2+Ar), was adjusted to vary the nitrogen concentration in MoSiN films. The gate work function (Фm) was extracted from capacitance-voltage (CV) measurements using the VFB-tox method. Interfacial barrier heights were measured using internal photoemission (IPE) as an independent confirmation of the MoSiN gate work function. The work function was found to decrease linearly (from ~4.7eV to ~4.4eV) for increasing gas flow ratios (from 10% to 40%). Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) depth profiles suggested that the nitrogen concentration was relatively uniform throughout the film. X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) surface analysis showed a steady increase in the total nitrogen concentration (from ~20% to 32%) in these films as gas flow ratio was increased. These data suggests that the increase in nitrogen concentration in MoSiN films corresponds directly with the lowering of MoSiN work function. These results clearly demonstrate that the work function of MoxSiyNz can be varied ~0.3 eV by adjusting the nitrogen concentration. / October 2008

MOSFET-C filters is popular in analog filters, the major reason is the simplicity. They are easily implemented with opamps and have similar architectures to active RC filters [1], this saves much of the design time. The frequency response of analog continuous time filters is determined by resistors, capacitors, inductors or transconductors. However, the process variation, temperature drift and aging, make the integrated RC time constants vary about 30 percent [2]~[3]. We proposed a switched-capacitor tuning circuit , which can be used in MOSFET-C Filter and the novel tuning circuit doesn¡¦t need off chip capacitor. The novel circuit has following advantages (1). Small chip size. (2). Simplicity (3). Low reference clock frequency.

Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to study the electrical characteristics of ultra-thin high-k gate oxide-semiconductor interfaces. The measured samples are Y2O3/Si¡BGd2O3/GaAs¡BGa2O3(Gd2O3)/GaAs MOS capacitors. An accurate C-V relation has been obtained consistently by using a model that includes both series and shunt parasitic resistances. Using the semiconductor parameters and the oxide parameters, an ideal C-V curve with Dit = 0 is fitted to the accurate capacitance data, and the interface state density is deduced by Terman method. After post - metallization annealing (PMA) at 425¢J, the oxide charge density, interface state density and leakage current were reduced. The results are following : (1) For Y2O3/Si MOS capacitors, we obtained a oxide charge density ~ 7.7 x 1010 cm-2, an interface state density ~ 3.6 x 1010 cm-2ev-1, and an equivalent oxide thickness ~ 52Å; (2) For Gd2O3/GaAs MOS capacitors, we obtained a oxide charge density ~ 9.8 x 1011 cm-2, an interface state density ~ 2 x 1011 cm-2ev-1, and an equivalent oxide thickness ~ 57Å; (3) For Ga2O3(Gd2O3)/GaAs MOS capacitors, we obtained a oxide charge density ~ 4.2 x 1012 cm-2, an interface state density ~ 6 x 1011 cm-2ev-1, and an equivalent oxide thickness ~ 91Å. The dielectric constants obtained from our data are smaller than the reported values. A possible explanation is that an interfacial layer formed at the oxide/semiconductor interface to reduce equivalent dielectric constant.

This paper aims to design and simulate the surface-micromachining micro tunable capacitor for parameters optimization. This work also creates an equivalent circuit model of micro tunable capacitor and proceeds relative electromechanical analysis, including the distribution of field and charge, resonant frequency and pull-in voltage analysis. This micro tunable capacitor is constructed by one suspended top metal plate and two stationary bottom metal plates (one is signal electrode and the other one is bias electrode). By driving electrostatic force, the gap between top and bottom electrodes will be changed and results in a variation of capacitance. To increase the tuning range, the micro tunable capacitor with two different gap space will be presented in this research. High frequency analysis, equivalent circuit analysis and electromechanical dynamic analysis are using Ansoft HFSS, Agilent ADS and the IntelliSuite software respectively. Through these simulation and analysis, it is possible to obtain the optimized specification of micro tunable capacitor. The quality factor (Q) and the pull-in voltage extracted by simulation software well match to the measured results; thus, the function of the analysis method and equivalent model adopted in this thesis can be demonstrated.

The thesis is composed of two topics : a charger circuit of Li-ion batteries for wireless biomedical systems and a capacitor-less low dropout regulator¡]LDO¡^. The first topic discloses a charger circuit of Li-ion batteries using 2P4M 0.35-£gm CMOS process, which comprises a small bias circuit, a comparator with hysteresis, a transistor voltage divider circuit, a power MOS, and a Li-ion charger with a cut-off voltage and a recharge voltage. The proposed design receives a 13.56 MHz carrier with 5¡Ó0.2 V amplitude to charge the Li-ion batteries with a small constant current. The second topic reveals a low dropout regulator ¡]LDO¡^ without capacitor load and ESR, including a bias circuit, an error amplifier, and a Flipped Voltage Follower circuit generating a stable output voltage independent on different loads. The proposed design improves the input voltage limitation of Flipped Voltage Follower by compensating phase margin such that the proposed design shows a good transient response and stability without any output capacitor. The proposed LDO is implemented by 1P6M 0.18-um CMOS process, which can operate correctly given an input voltage range from 3.3~4.2 V.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 118-120).