Nous présentons dans ce mémoire les résultats concernant la caractérisation spectroscopique spatiotemporelle de plasmas d’ablation laser obtenus à partir de cibles de céramiques d'oxydes complexes (CCTO et BSTO). Nos mesures montrent que les différentes espèces constituant le plasma évoluent de façons similaires quelque soit leur degré d'ionisation et ceci pour l'ensemble des conditions de pression et de fluence explorées. Nous montrons aussi que dans les premiers instants suivant l'impact laser, le plasma est fortement non-uniforme et se propage selon une seule dimension, il s’uniformise par la suite et s'expanse alors dans les trois dimensions. Une collaboration avec le laboratoire LP3 (Université de Marseille) nous a permis d'estimer les paramètres caractéristiques du plasma (température, densité électronique, épaisseur) à partir de la confrontation entre nos spectres expérimentaux et les résultats de la simulation de la radiance spectrale du plasma. A partir de cette confrontation, nous confirmons qu'il existe une forte corrélation entre l'inhomogénéité du plasma et son type d'expansion. Grâce à l'analyse spectrale il a été possible d'identifier et de quantifier des polluants présents dans les cibles, nous avons pu ainsi estimer des concentrations minimales pouvant atteindre la dizaine de ppm selon le type de polluant. / From the laser ablation of complex oxide ceramics (CCTO and BSTO), characterisation by time-space resolved spectroscopy and fast imaging are shown in this dissertation. By the measurements, we noticed a similar development of all species of the plasma, for any ionisation degree, in any explored pressure and explored fluence. During the first times after laser impact, plasma is highly non-uniform and moves forward only one dimension. Afterwards, plasma expands uniformly in three dimensions. From collaboration with the LP3 laboratory (Marseille University), we succeeded in estimating plasma parameters (temperature, electronic density, thickness) from fits of experimental spectra with simulated ones. From those fits, we bore out the correlation between plasma non-uniformity and expansion kind. By spectral analysis it was possible to identify and quantify pollutants from targets. Depending on the pollutant, we were able to estimate weak concentrations, as low as few tens ppm.

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Submitted by Luiz Antonio Saska Júnior (mat09083@feg.unesp.br) on 2017-04-06T13:55:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Defesa Mestrado Luiz Antonio Saska Junior.pdf: 2401538 bytes, checksum: 4a12ff9f083a1dc7ffb358112e9d48a6 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luiz Galeffi (luizgaleffi@gmail.com) on 2017-04-12T19:12:08Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 saskajunior_la_me_bauru.pdf: 2401538 bytes, checksum: 4a12ff9f083a1dc7ffb358112e9d48a6 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-12T19:12:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 saskajunior_la_me_bauru.pdf: 2401538 bytes, checksum: 4a12ff9f083a1dc7ffb358112e9d48a6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-06 / Cerâmicas à base de CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) com estrutura perovskita ABO3 geraram grande interesse científico devido à descoberta da constante dielétrica (κ) gigante, propriedade não ôhmica elevada e propriedade fotoluminescente. Neste trabalho foram preparadas cerâmicas policristalinas na forma de pó com a seguinte composição: Ca1-xSrxCu3Ti4O12 (0,0 ≤ x ≤ 1,0) na qual o Ca2+ (sitio A) foi gradativamente substituído pelo cátion Sr2+. Foram analisados os efeitos desta substituição gradativa nas propriedades estruturais e microestruturais dos pós policristalinos. Mediante técnicas de análise termogravimétrica dos pós, produzidos por reação do estado sólido, determinou a temperatura de calcinação a 950ºC. Analisando as fases presentes no material por meio da técnica de difratometria raios X observa-se que a estrutura cristalina formada é do tipo perovskita. Ao realizar os estudos semi-quantitativos, mediante microscopia eletrônica de varredura com detector de energia dispersiva, se obteve a morfologia e composição química dos pós cerâmicos. Por meio das técnicas de espectroscopia (de infravermelho, de absorção ultravioleta-visível e de fotoluminescência) foram obtidos os valores 548 cm-1, 500 cm-1 e 415 cm-1, para os módulos vibracionais das ligações O-Ti-O, o band gap de 2,85 eV para as amostras estudadas e determinou-se as propriedades ópticas da cerâmica policristalina na forma de pó. / Ceramics made of CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) create great scientific interest after the discovery of its giant dielectric constant (κ), the high non-ohmic property and photolumenescence. In this study were prepared polycrystalline ceramics in the form of powder with the following composition: Ca1-xSrxCu3Ti4O12 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0), in which Ca2+ (site A) was gradually replaced by a cation Sr2+. The effects of this graduated replacement were analyzed in the structural and microstructure properties of polycrystalline powders. By the thermogravimetric analysis of the powders, produced by solid state reaction, determined the calcination temperature at 1223K. Analyzing the phases present in the material by the diffraction technique of X-rays its observed that the crystal structure formed is perovskite. When conducting semi-quantitative studies, by the scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive spectroscopy, it was obtained the morphology and chemical composition of the ceramics powders. By the techniques of spectroscopy (infrared, ultraviolet-visible absorption and photoluminescence) were obtained the values 548 cm-1, 500 cm-1 and 415 cm-1, for the vibrational modules of the bonding O-Ti-O, the band gap of 2,85 eV for the studied samples and the optical properties of the powder polycrystalline ceramics were determined.

High dielectric constant materials are of technological importance as they lead to the miniaturization of the electronic devices. In this context, the observation of anomalously high dielectric constant (>104) in the body-centered cubic perovskite-related (Space group Im3) material Calcium Copper Titanate ((CaCu3Ti4O12)(CCTO)) over wide frequency (100 Hz – 1MHz at RT) and temperature (100 – 600 K at 1 kHz ) ranges has attracted a great deal of attention. However, high dielectric constant in CCTO is not well understood yet, though internal barrier layer capacitor (IBLC) mechanism is widely been accepted. Therefore, the present work has been focused on the preparation and characterization of CCTO ceramic and to have an insight into the origin of high dielectric constant. Influence of calcination temperature, processing conditions, microstructure (and hence grain size), composition, doping etc on the electrical characteristics of CCTO ceramics were investigated. Electrical properties were found to be strongly dependent on these parameters. The dielectric constant in CCTO was observed to be reduced considerably on substituting La+3 on Ca+2 site. The formation temperature of CCTO was lowered substantially (when compared to conventional solid-state reaction route) by adopting molten-salt synthesis. The dielectric loss in CCTO was reduced by incorporating glassy phases at the grain boundary. Potential candidates for the practical applications such as charge storage devices, capacitors etc, with dielectric constant as high as 700 at 300 K was accomplished in a three-phase percolative composite fabricated by incorporating Aluminium particle into CCTO-epoxy composite. Polycrystalline CCTO thin films with dielectric constant as high as ~ 5000 (1 kHz and 400 K) were fabricated on Pt(111)/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates using radio frequency magnetron sputtering. Effect of sintering conditions on the microstructural, ferroelectric and varistor properties of CCTO and LCTO ceramics belonging to the high and low dielectric constant members of ACu3M4O12 family of oxides were investigated in detail and are compared. Ferroelectric-like hysteresis loop (P vs E) and weak pyroelectricity were observed in CCTO and plausible mechanisms for this unusual phenomenon have been proposed.

Ceramics and polymer-ceramic composites associated with high dielectric constants are of both scientific and industrial interest as these could be used in devices such as capacitors, resonators and filters. High dielectric constant facilitates smaller capacitive components, thus offering the opportunity to miniaturize the electronic devices. Hence there is a continued interest on high dielectric constant materials over a wide range of temperatures. Recently, CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) ceramic which has centro-symmetric body centered cubic structure has attracted considerable attention due to its large dielectric constant (ε ~104-105) which is nearly independent of frequency (upto 10 MHz) and low thermal coefficient of permittivity (TCK) over 100-600K temperature range. Apart from the high dielectric ceramics, high dielectric polymer-ceramic composites have also become promising materials for capacitor applications. By combining the advantages of high dielectric ceramics and low leakage behaviour of polymers, one can fabricate new hybrid materials with high dielectric constants, and high breakdown field to achieve high volume efficiency and energy storage density for capacitor applications. The CCTO polycrystalline powders were generally prepared by the conventional solid-solid reaction route with CaCO3, TiO2 and CuO as the starting materials. This method of preparation often requires high temperatures and longer durations. To overcome these difficulties, in the present investigations, an attempt has been made to synthesize CCTO by adopting microwave assisted heating technique and wet chemical synthesis routes. Also the CCTO crystallites (size varying from nano to micrometers) incorporated in the Polyvinyliden fluoride (PVDF) and Polyaniline (PANI) matrix and several composites with high dielectric constants were fabricated and investigated. Further, the high dielectric constant glasses in the system (100-x)TeO2-xCaCu3Ti4O12, (x=0.5 to 3) were fabricated by the conventional melt-quenching technique and their structural and dielectric properties were studied. The results obtained pertaining to these aforementioned investigations are classified as follows. Chapter 1 is intended to give basic information pertaining to the dielectrics and various mechanisms associated with high dielectric constants. Brief exposure to the high dielectric constant materials is also given. The structural aspects of CCTO, various synthetic routes adopted for the synthesis and the origin of the dielectric anomaly in CCTO are elaborated. In addition, basic information about the high dielectric polymer-ceramic composites and glasses are provided. In chapter 2 the various experimental techniques that were employed to synthesize and characterize the materials under investigation were discussed. Chapter 3 reports the synthesis and characterization of CaCu3Ti4O12, (CCTO) powders by microwave assisted heating at 2.45 GHz, 1.1kW. The processing and sintering were carried out at different temperatures for varied durations. The optimum calcination temperature using microwave heating was found to be 950oC for 20 minutes to obtain cubic CCTO powders. This is found to be fast and energy efficient as compared to that of the conventional methods. The structure, morphology and dielectric properties of the CCTO ceramic processed by microwave assisted heating were studied via X-ray diffraction, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and impedance analyser. These studies revealed that, the microwave sintered (MS) samples were less porous than that of the conventional ones. Relative density of about 95% was achieved for the MS pellets (1000oC/60min) while for the conventional sintered (CS) pellets (1100oC/2h) it was only 91%. The dielectric constants for the microwave sintered (1000oC/60min) ceramics were found to vary from 11000 to 6950 in the 100 Hz to 100 kHz frequency range. The presence of larger grains (6-10μm) in the MS samples contributed to the higher dielectric constants. Chapter 4 deals with the synthesis of complex oxalate precursor, CaCu3(TiO)4(C2O4)8 • 9H2O, by the wet chemical route. The various trials and the different reaction schemes involved for the preparation of complex oxalate precursor were highlighted. The oxalate precipitate thus obtained was characterized by the wet chemical analyses, X-ray diffraction, FTIR absorption and TG/DTA analyses. The complex oxalate precursor, CaCu3(TiO)4(C2O4 )8.9H2O was subjected to thermal oxidative decomposition and the products of thermal decomposition were investigated employing XRD,TGA, DTA and FTIR techniques. Nanocrystallites of CaCu3Ti4O12 with the size varying from 30-200 nm were obtained at a temperature as low as 680oC. The nanocrystallites of CaCu3Ti4O12 were characterized using Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) and optical reflectance techniques. The selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern with the zone axis [012] and spot pattern in electron diffraction (ED) indicate their single-crystalline nature. The optical reflectance and ESR spectra indicate that the Cu (II) coordination changes from distorted octahedra to nearly flattened tetrahedra (squashed) to square planar geometry with increasing heat treatment temperature. The powders derived from the oxalate precursor have excellent sinterability resulting in high density ceramics which exhibited giant dielectric constants upto 40,000 (1 kHz) at 25oC, accompanied by low dielectric loss < 0.07. The effect of calcium content on the dielectric properties of CaxCu3Ti4O12 (x=0.90, 0.97, 1.0, 1.1 and 1.15) derived from the oxalate route was described in Chapter 5. The structural, morphological and dielectric properties of the ceramics were studied using X-ray diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscope along with Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDX), and Impedance analyzer. The X-ray diffraction patterns obtained for the x= 0.97, 1.0 and 1.1 ceramics could be indexed to a body– centered cubic perovskite related structure associated with the space group Im3. The microstructural studies revealed that the grains are surrounded by exfoliated sheets of Cu-rich phase. The microstructure that is evolved for the Ca0.97 ceramic more or less resembles that of the Ca1.0 ceramic, but the density of such exfoliated sheets of cu-rich phase is lesser for the Ca0.97 ceramic and none for Ca1.1 ceramic. The sintered pellet (x=0.97) was ground and thinned to the required thickness (~ 20nm) and analyzed using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the ceramics exhibited non-linear behaviour. The dielectric properties of these suggest that the sample corresponding to the composition x=0.97, has a reduced dielectric loss while retaining its high dielectric constant. Chapter 6 illustrates the results concerning the fabrication and characterization of nanocrystal composites of Polyaniline (PANI) and CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO). These were prepared using a simple procedure involving in-situ polymerization of aniline in dil. HCl. The PANI and the PANI-CCTO composites were subjected to X-ray diffraction, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), Thermo gravimetric, Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) and Transmission electron microscopic analyses. The FTIR spectra recorded for the composites was similar to that of pure PANI unlike in the case of X-ray diffraction wherein the characteristics of both PANI and CCTO were reflected. The TGA in essence indicated the composites to have better thermal stability than that of pure PANI. The composite corresponding to 50%CCTO-50%PANI exhibited higher dielectric constant (4.6x106 @100Hz). The presence of the nano crystallites of CCTO embedded in the nanofibers of PANI matrix was established by TEM. The AC conductivity increased slightly upto 2kHz as the CCTO content increased in the PANI which was attributed to the polarization of the charge carriers. The value of dielectric constant obtained was higher than that of the other PANI based composites reported in the literature. Chapter 7 deals with the fabrication and characterization of diphasic Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)-CCTO composite. The CCTO crystallites (size varying from nano to micrometers) incorporated in the Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and composites with varying CCTO content were fabricated. The structural, morphological and dielectric properties of the composites were studied using X-ray diffraction, Thermal analysis, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopic (TEM) and Impedance analyzer. The room temperature dielectric constant as high as 95 at 100Hz has been realized for the composite with 0.55 Vol.fraction of CCTO (micro sized crystallites), which has increased to about 190 at 150oC. Whereas, the PVDF/CCTO nanocrystal composite with 0.13Vol.fraction of CCTO has exhibited higher room temperature dielectric constant (90 at 100Hz). The PVDF/CCTO nanocrystal composite was further investigated for the breakdown strength and electric modulus. The breakdown strength plotted against the dielectric constant evidenced an inverse relationship of breakdown voltage with the dielectric constant. The relaxation processes associated with these composites were attributed to the interfacial polarization or Maxwell-Wagner-Sillars (MWS) effect. Various theoretical models were employed to rationalize the dielectric behavior of these composites. The fabrication and characterization details of optically clear colored glasses in the system (100-x)TeO2-xCaCu3Ti4O12, (x=0.5 to 3 mol%) are reported in Chapter 8. The color varies from olive green to brown as the CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) content increased in TeO2 matrix. The X-ray powder diffraction and differential scanning calorimetric analyses that were carried out on the as-quenched samples confirmed their amorphous and glassy nature respectively. The optical transmittance of the glasses exhibited typical band-pass filter characteristics. The dielectric constant and loss in the 100 Hz-1MHz frequency range were monitored as a function of temperature (323K673K). The dielectric constant and the loss increased as the CCTO content increased in TeO2 at all the frequencies and temperatures under study. Further, the dielectric constant and the loss were found to be frequency independent in the 323-473 K temperature range. The value obtained for the loss at 1MHz was 0.0019 which was typical of low loss materials, and exhibited near constant loss (NCL) contribution to the ac conductivity in the 100Hz-1MHz frequency range. The electrical relaxation was rationalized using the electrical modulus formalism. These glasses are found to be more stable (a feature which may be of considerable interest) as substrates for high frequency circuit elements in conventional semiconductor industries. Thesis ends with summary and conclusions, though each chapter is provided with conclusions and complete list of references.

<p dir="ltr">The short lifespan of capacitors in power electronics converters is a significant challenge. These capacitors, often electrolytic, are vital for voltage smoothing and frequency filtering. However, their susceptibility to heat, ripple current, and aging can lead to premature faults. This can cause issues like output voltage instability and short circuits, ultimately resulting in catastrophic failure and system shutdown. Capacitors are responsible for 30% of power electronics failures.</p><p dir="ltr">To tackle this challenge, scientists, researchers, and engineers are exploring various approaches detailed in technical literature. These include exploring alternative capacitor technologies, implementing active and passive cooling solutions, and developing advanced monitoring techniques to predict and prevent failures. However, these solutions often come with drawbacks such as increased complexity, reduced efficiency, or higher upfront costs. Additionally, research in material science is ongoing to develop corrosion-resistant capacitors, but such devices are not readily available.</p><p dir="ltr">This dissertation presents a capacitorless solution for dc-dc and dc-ac converters. The proposed solution involves harnessing parasitic elements and integrating them as intrinsic components in power converter technology. This approach holds the promise of enhancing power electronics reliability ratings, thereby facilitating breakthroughs in electric vehicles, compact power processing units, and renewable energy systems. The central scientific premise of this proposal is that the capacitance requirement in a power converter can be met by deliberately augmenting parasitic components.</p><p dir="ltr">Our research hypothesis that incorporating high dielectric material-based thin-films, fabricated using nanotechnology, into planar magnetics will enable the development of a family of capacitorless electronic converters that do not rely on discrete capacitors. This innovative approach represents a departure from the traditional power converter schemes employed in industry.</p><p dir="ltr">The first family of converters introduces a novel capacitorless solid-state power filter (SSPF) for single-phase dc-ac converters. The proposed configuration, comprising a planar transformer and an H-bridge converter operating at high frequency, generates sinusoidal ac voltage without relying on capacitors. Another innovative dc-ac inverter design is the twelve step six-level inverter, which does not incorporate capacitors in its structure.</p><p dir="ltr">The second family of capacitorless topologies consists of non-isolated dc-dc converters, namely the buck converter and the buck-boost converter. These converters utilize alternative materials with high dielectric constants, such as calcium copper titanate (CCTO), to intentionally enhance specific parasitic components, notably inter capacitance. This innovative approach reduces reliance on external discrete capacitors and facilitates the development of highly reliable converters.</p><p dir="ltr">The study also includes detailed discussions on the necessary design specifications for these parasitic capacitors. Furthermore, comprehensive finite element analysis solutions and detailed circuit models are provided. A design example is presented to demonstrate the practical application of the proposed concept in electric vehicle (EV) low voltage side dc-dc power converters used to supply EVs low voltage loads.</p>