Medicine and health domains are information intensive fields as data volume has been increasing constantly from them. In order to make full use of the data, the technique of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD) has been developed as a comprehensive pathway to discover valid and unsuspected patterns and trends that are both understandable and useful to data analysts. The present study aimed to investigate the entire KDD process of developing a classification model for cardiovascular disease (CVD) from a Canadian dataset for the first time. The research data source was Canadian Heart Health Database, which contains 265 easily collected variables and 23,129 instances from ten Canadian provinces. Many practical issues involving in different steps of the integrated process were addressed, and possible solutions were suggested based on the experimental results. Five specific learning schemes representing five distinct KDD approaches were employed, as they were never compared with one another. In addition, two improving approaches including cost-sensitive learning and ensemble learning were also examined. The performance of developed models was measured in many aspects. The data set was prepared through data cleaning and missing value imputation. Three pairs of experiments demonstrated that the dataset balancing and outlier removal exerted positive influence to the classifier, but the variable normalization was not helpful. Three combinations of subset generation method and evaluation function were tested in variable subset selection phase, and the combination of Best-First search and Correlation-based Feature Selection showed comparable goodness and was maintained for other benefits. Among the five learning schemes investigated, C4.5 decision tree achieved the best performance on the classification of CVD, followed by Multilayer Feed-forward Network, KNearest Neighbor, Logistic Regression, and Naïve Bayes. Cost-sensitive learning exemplified by the MetaCost algorithm failed to outperform the single C4.5 decision tree when varying the cost matrix from 5:1 to 1:7. In contrast, the models developed from ensemble modeling, especially AdaBoost M1 algorithm, outperformed other models. Although the model with the best performance might be suitable for CVD screening in general Canadian population, it is not ready to use in practice. I propose some criteria to improve the further evaluation of the model. Finally, I describe some of the limitations of the study and propose potential solutions to address such limitations through out the KDD process. Such possibilities should be explored in further research.

En este trabajo se ha estudiado el crecimiento epitaxial de capas de silicio sobre substrato de Si (001) y capas pseudomórficas de Si1-yCy utilizando silano y tetrametilsilano como gases precursores en el crecimiento vía Deposición Química en Fase Vapor. La temperatura mínima de epitaxia de las capas de Si ha sido del orden de 600°C. Dependiendo de los flujos y la temperatura se ha observado la formación de micromaclas a lo largo de la dirección {111}. También se ha efectuado el crecimiento de las aleaciones mediante Epitaxia en Fase Sólida utilizando una dosis de implantación de carbono elevada . La implantación iónica de Si en substrato de Si (180 keV, 5x1015 ion/cm2) ha resultado en la formación de una capa enterrada de silicio amorfo. Las muestras recocidas a temperaturas de 650°C, han crecido pseudomorficamente, con la presencia de máximos de interferencia en la zona de bajos ángulos con respecto al pico del substrato. Estos máximos son consecuencia de las zonas con esfuerzos de compresión y de fenómenos de interferencia entre las distintas zonas. La implantación de C se ha efectuado a 40 keV y 9x1015 ion /cm2; bajo estas condiciones se ha conseguido el crecimiento epitaxial en fase sólida de aleaciones de Si1-yCy a temperaturas bajas de 450°C. A pesar de la elevada cantidad de carbono introducido, los resultados obtenidos muestran incorporaciones substitucionales del orden de 0.3-0.4 %. La baja incorporación de carbono esta relacionada con la presencia de intersticiales de Si en exceso. Los intersticiales generados actúan como trampas para los átomos de carbono formando complejos Si-C. La formación de estos complejos reduce el estrés asociado y limita la cantidad de C substitucional en el sistema. Un estudio detallado a través del ajuste de las curvas rocking mediante teoría dinámica de rayos X, ha permitido una estimación de los espesores de las capas, la composición y otros parámetros estructurales de los perfiles de difracción. / Strained layer heterostructures based on group IV elements are of current interest because of the potential applications to build devices with improved carrier mobilities and suitable properties. In this work we investigated the strain and damage produced on Si substrates by high -dose ion implantation of Si and C after thermal treatment by double and triple crystal X-ray diffraction, high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS). Si implantation (180 keV, 5x1015 Si at/cm2) al liquid nitrogen temperature forms a buried amorphous layer. Annealing at temperatures close to 650°C results in epitaxial films with significant defects recovery. X-ray rocking curves show the existence of interference fringes on the left hand side of (004) Si peak indicating the presence of tensile strained Si layers due to the generation of Si interstitials during the implantation process. C implantation, at 60 keV, 7x1015 ion/cm2 and 450°C, in the preamorphized Si wafers results in the growth of Si1-yCy epitaxial films with a low amount of substitutional carbon (y =0.2%). Rapid annealing at 750°C results in highly defective films with a maximum carbon content close to 0.4%. the high density defects is responsible for the partial strain relaxation observed in those layers. The amount of substitutional Si also decreases drastically with increasing temperature. Profile fitting of rocking curves using dynamical X-ray theory is used to estimate the carbon concentration and the strain and disorder profiles of the heterostructures.

Reducing fabrication and operation costs while maintaining high performance is a major consideration for the design of a new generation of solid-state ionic devices such as fuel cells, batteries, and sensors. The objective of this research is to fabricate nanostructured materials for energy storage and conversion, particularly porous electrodes with nanostructured features for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and high surface area films for gas sensing using a combustion CVD process. This research started with the evaluation of the most important deposition parameters: deposition temperature, deposition time, precursor concentration, and substrate. With the optimum deposition parameters, highly porous and nanostructured electrodes for low-temperature SOFCs have been then fabricated. Further, nanostructured and functionally graded La0.8Sr0.2MnO2-La0.8SrCoO3-Gd0.1Ce0.9O2 composite cathodes were fabricated on YSZ electrolyte supports. Extremely low interfacial polarization resistances (i.e. 0.43 Wcm2 at 700¡ãC) and high power densities (i.e. 481 mW/cm2 at 800¡ãC) were generated at operating temperature range of 600¡ãC-850¡ãC. The original combustion CVD process is modified to directly employ solid ceramic powder instead of clear solution for fabrication of porous electrodes for solid oxide fuel cells. Solid particles of SOFC electrode materials suspended in an organic solvent were burned in a combustion flame, depositing a porous cathode on an anode supported electrolyte. Combustion CVD was also employed to fabricate highly porous and nanostructured SnO2 thin film gas sensors with Pt interdigitated electrodes. The as-prepared SnO2 gas sensors were tested for ethanol vapor sensing behavior in the temperature range of 200-500¡ãC and showed excellent sensitivity, selectivity, and speed of response. Moreover, several novel nanostructures were synthesized using a combustion CVD process, including SnO2 nanotubes with square-shaped or rectangular cross sections, well-aligned ZnO nanorods, and two-dimensional ZnO flakes. Solid-state gas sensors based on single piece of these nanostructures demonstrated superior gas sensing performances. These size-tunable nanostructures could be the building blocks of or a template for fabrication of functional devices. In summary, this research has developed new ways for fabrication of high-performance solid-state ionic devices and has helped generating fundamental understanding of the correlation between processing conditions, microstructure, and properties of the synthesized structures.

The microstructure and electrochemical behavior of boron doped and undoped ultra thin diamond film electrodes have been studied in this work. The ultra thin diamond films are deposited on porous silicon (PSi) by microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (MPCVD). In order to enlarge the surface area of diamond electrodes, the deposition of nano structured diamond thin films is performed only in a short time deposition under a negative bias, so that diamond nuclei grew from the tips of PSi nano structures and the thin film surface remained rough and nano fine structured. Diamond thin films were analyzed by Raman spectroscopy and SEM, and then fabricated to the electrode device. From SEM analysis, the morphology of diamond thin films on PSi reveals in the shape of nano rods diamond crystallites. The electro-chemical response was evaluated by performing cyclic voltammetry in the inorganic K4[Fe(CN)6] and a K2HPO4 buffer solution. Boron doped diamond thin film on porous silicon has demonstrated a high redoxidation current of cyclic voltammetry, which may be due to the rough surface providing more electrochemical surface area and more sp2 conducting bonds exposed on the surface.

In the study, the effect of current density and rotation speed of grinding disk on characters of Ni-Diamond composite coating are investigated. Experimental results show that current density and film thickness are almost linearly depend. When the current density is increased, the film thickness is increased, too. And it can cover diamond particles much more efficiently. The rotation speed of grinding disk is 20 rpm, the average deposition rate is approx. 2£gm/min in 5 ASD. When reduce the current density to 2.5ASD, the average deposition rate reduce to approx. 1.08£gm/min. The current density is 5 ASD, the covered area of diamond particle in Ni-Diamond composite coating is 60% when the rotation speed of grinding disk is 0rpm. Increasing the rotation speed up to 100 rpm, the covered area of diamond particle in Ni-Diamond composite coating is down to 24% because diamond particle can`t stay in the same position in a long period. Secondary, we use composite electroplating on grinder in process to grind CVD diamond films, the effect of current density and loads on grinding characters of CVD diamond films by using the composite electroplating on grinder in process are investigated. The load is 4.2 kg, the surface roughness Ra is about 0.2 £gm when composite coating grind CVD diamond with no electroplating. But the current density is up to 2.5 ASD, Ra can down to 0.12£gm. The load is increasing to 6.3 kg, the Ra of CVD diamond films is about 0.16£gm.

This work has employed the Micro-wave Plasma enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (MPCVD) method to fabricate diamond PN junction device. The n+ <111> orientation single-crystal silicon has used as substrates. P-type diamond layer is doped with B(OCH3)3 and the N-type diamond layer is doped with ammonia. The surface structure of diamond film has been observed by scanning electron microscope; and the device rectification property of a PN junction has measured by current-voltage characteristic. The carrier density and mobility of diamond films have been analyzed by Hall measurement. Furthermore, the Cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy showed the defect spectra in diamond PN junction. The N-type diamond film and P-type diamond film have deposited at temperature of 800 ¢J, for 30 minutes and 90 minutes, respectively. The process CVD has performed in the same chamber continually. A I-V curve of sample showed the set on positive voltage 0.5 V and the reverse breakdown voltage of 6 V. Further, CL results revealed a peak at 285 nm (4.4 eV), which represents the CVD diamond band and the other one is at 500 nm (2.5 eV), which stands for donor-acceptor recombination from defect in these diamond films.

Die plasmaunterstützte chemische Gasphasenabscheidung (PE-CVD) hat sich als eines der wichtigsten Dünnschichtverfahren etabliert. Für die Bearbeitung von Pulvern haben sich in der Technik Wirbelbettverfahren bewährt. Beide Verfahren sind an sich gut untersucht und verstanden. In der Arbeit wird ein Konzept zur Kombination dieser beiden Verfahren vorgestellt. Dabei zeigt sich, dass die einzelnen Modelle beider Verfahren durch experimentelle Untersuchungen ergänzt werden müssen, um das entsprechende Parameterfeld abzugrenzen. Durch die Untersuchung der Gasphase während der Abscheidung können Rückschlüsse auf die ablaufenden chemischen Reaktionen gezogen werden. Vergleichende ramanspektroskopische Untersuchungen, zwischen statischen Beschichtungen und Beschichtungen im Wirbelbett gestatteten es, den Einfluss der einzelnen Prozessparameter zu untersuchen. Mikroglaskugeln mit einem Durchmesser von ca. 160µm werden mittels Toluen als Precursor in einem Argon-Wasserstoff-Plasma beschichtet. Dazu werden als Prozessparameter die Mikrowellenleistung, die Zusammensetzung der Gasphase und das Precursorangebot variiert. Die durch die Oberflächenmodifizierung erreichten Änderungen der Eigenschaften der pulverförmigen Substrate können durch Oberflächenspannungsmessungen gezeigt werden. Es zeigt sich, dass vor allem die mechanische Beanspruchung im Wirbelbett und die Zusammensetzung der Reaktionsgasphase entscheidenden Einfluss auf die entstehende Schichtstruktur besitzen.

Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Synthese von Phosphan-Kupfer(I)- und Silber(I)-Thiocarboxylaten der Art [(nBu3P)mMSC(O)R] (m = 2, 3; M = Cu, Ag; R = Me, Ph). Die Verbindungen wurden in Hinsicht auf ihr Potential zur thermischen Abscheidung dünner Schichten untersucht. Weiterhin befasst sich diese Arbeit mit der Darstellung von Silber(I)- und Kupfer(I)-Carboxylaten, die im organischen Rest mindestens eine zusätzliche Donorfunktion besitzen ([(nBu3P)mMO2CR]; m = 1, 2; M = Ag, Cu; R = ungesättigter organischer Rest, CH2O(CH2)2OCH3). Das thermische Verhalten und die Anwendbarkeit dieser Komplexe zur Abscheidung dünner Metallschichten mittels CVD-Verfahren wurden untersucht. Das Verhalten von Phosphan-Silber und -Kupfer-Verbindungen in Lösung wurde mittels dynamischer NMR-Spektroskopie untersucht. Dazu wurden phosphankoordinierte Silber(I)- und Kupfer(I)-Acetate als Modellsystem benutzt und mit einem ausgewählten Vertreter der ungesättigten Carboxylate verglichen.

With the growing demand for miniaturization of devices and for new materials with useful properties, the use of Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) for the manufacture of thin films is receiving growing attention. The synthesis of potentially volatile metal complexes and investigation of their use as CVD precursors is an important part of this process. The research presented addresses several major areas of this process, (i) the identification and synthesis of ligands which can impart volatility to a metal complex, (ii) the synthesis, characterization, and assessment of volatility of metal complexes containing these ligands, and (iii) the full materials characterization of thin films grown with these complexes. The use of trimethylphosphine, bis(trifluoromethyl)pyrazolate, and bis(trifluoromethyl)pyrrolyl ligands have been successfully used to synthesize volatile new complexes of cobalt, rhodium, and nickel, some of which show promise for use as potential CVD precursors. / text

BCxNy films were characterized as a potential pore sealing layer for low κ dielectrics. The changes in chemical bonding were studied as a function of growth temperature to aid in understanding the variation in electrical performance of these films. Thermal chemical vapor deposition of BCxNy using dimethylamine borane and ethylene were deposited on porous methylsilsesquioxane substrates at 335 °C and 1 Torr. BCxNy was able to seal the porous interface with a thickness of 3.9 nm for both blanket and patterned substrates. BCxNy films deposited over a temperature range of 300-400 °C with dimethylamine borane and either ethylene or ammonia coreactant gas were characterized. Films deposited with ethylene became more concentrated in B at the expense of C with increasing temperature. These films favored C-B intermixing over C-C and B-B bonding at higher temperature. H was detected in the form of B-H and C-H bonds. Films deposited with ammonia became concentrated in N at the expense of B, and favored B-N viii bonding at higher temperatures. H was found in the films as B-H, C-H, and N-H bonds. The amount of H in the films decreased with increasing growth temperature for both ethylene and ammonia coreacted films. The valence band offset of C-rich films increased from 0.17 ± 0.22 eV to 0.32 ± 0.22 eV when deposited at 300°C and 400 °C. For the Nrich films, the valence band offset shifted from 0.26 ± 0.28 at 300 °C to -0.15 ± 0.24 eV at the same deposition conditions. High temperature annealing from 400-800 °C in forming gas caused all BCxNy films to decrease in thickness up to 30%. At the same time, the index of refraction increased, and likely, the dielectric constant. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed little change in the constituent bonding, suggesting that volatile –H containing species were removed during the annealing process. / text