CAPES; ANP; FINEP; MCT; PETROBRAS / Escoamentos bifásicos são encontrados com frequência, em atividades industriais, como por exemplo, em reatores químicos e nas operações de produção e transporte de petróleo, onde escoamentos do tipo gás-liquido são os mais comuns. Esses são caracterizados pela passagem simultânea de dois fluidos imiscíveis em um duto, podendo tomar diversas formas ao longo da tubulação, chamado de padrão ou regime de escoamento. Em muitos casos, o tipo de escoamento determina a eficiência e segurança dos processos ou plantas onde tais ocorrem. Desta forma, a monitoração em tempo real de escoamentos bifásicos é de grande importância. O objetivo deste trabalho é desenvolver um sensor inteligente para monitoramento de escoamento bifásico. Foram selecionados dois parâmetros importantes de monitoração, o primeiro deles é a fração de gás e o segundo a velocidade de translação de bolhas. Para isso foi desenvolvido uma sonda capacitiva que explora a diferença da permissividade elétrica das fases para diferenciá-las. Além disso, uma eletrônica anteriormente desenvolvida foi aprimorada para tornar possível a medição de dois canais simultaneamente e o firmware modificado para realização do cálculo de fração de vazio e velocidades de forma embarcada. A resposta da sonda capacitiva desenvolvida não depende apenas da proporção volumétrica das fases, mas também da forma que estão distribuídas em seu interior, portanto simulações de campo elétrico pelo método de elementos finitos foram realizadas para o levantamento da resposta do mesmo. A resposta do sensor foi validada através de testes estáticos e em escoamentos em plantas controladas, onde os resultados foram comparados com os obtidos, em medidas simultâneas com o sensor wire-mesh, adotado como referência neste trabalho. Os resultados obtidos mostram que o sensor capacitivo é capaz de medir os parâmetros de forma satisfatória. Assim, este sensor pode ser empregado em trabalhos futuros como ferramenta simples para monitoração de escoamentos bifásicos. / Two-phase flow is frequently found in industrial activities, for instance in chemical reactors or during oil production and transport, where gas-liquid flow type is the most common. Such flow is characterized by the simultaneous passage of two immiscible fluids in a pipe. The fluids may assume various spatial distributions in a pipe, which are classified into flow regimes. In many cases, the type of flow determines the efficiency and safety of the processes or plants in which they occur. The objective of this work is to develop a smart sensor for real-time monitoring of two-phase flows. Here two important monitoring parameters were selected; the first is the gas void fraction and the second translational bubble velocities. To this aim, a capacitive probe was developed that exploits the difference in electrical permittivity of the phases. In addition, a previously developed electronics have been further developed to make it possible to measure two channels simultaneously and the firmware has been modified for performing the calculation of the two parameters directly in the embedded microcontroller. The response of the capacitive probe depends not only on the volume fraction of the phases, but it also depends on the way they are distributed inside the pipe. In order to account for this, electric field simulations by finite element method were performed to survey the sensor responses. The overall sensor response was validated by static tests and controlled flow experiments in a pilot plant. The measurement results were compared with those obtained by simultaneous measurements with a wire-mesh sensor which was adopted as reference in this study. The results show that the capacitive sensor is able of measuring the parameters satisfactorily. Hence, the sensor can be applied in future work as a simple tool for two-phase flows monitoring.

CAPES; ANP; FINEP; MCT; PETROBRAS / Escoamentos bifásicos são encontrados com frequência, em atividades industriais, como por exemplo, em reatores químicos e nas operações de produção e transporte de petróleo, onde escoamentos do tipo gás-liquido são os mais comuns. Esses são caracterizados pela passagem simultânea de dois fluidos imiscíveis em um duto, podendo tomar diversas formas ao longo da tubulação, chamado de padrão ou regime de escoamento. Em muitos casos, o tipo de escoamento determina a eficiência e segurança dos processos ou plantas onde tais ocorrem. Desta forma, a monitoração em tempo real de escoamentos bifásicos é de grande importância. O objetivo deste trabalho é desenvolver um sensor inteligente para monitoramento de escoamento bifásico. Foram selecionados dois parâmetros importantes de monitoração, o primeiro deles é a fração de gás e o segundo a velocidade de translação de bolhas. Para isso foi desenvolvido uma sonda capacitiva que explora a diferença da permissividade elétrica das fases para diferenciá-las. Além disso, uma eletrônica anteriormente desenvolvida foi aprimorada para tornar possível a medição de dois canais simultaneamente e o firmware modificado para realização do cálculo de fração de vazio e velocidades de forma embarcada. A resposta da sonda capacitiva desenvolvida não depende apenas da proporção volumétrica das fases, mas também da forma que estão distribuídas em seu interior, portanto simulações de campo elétrico pelo método de elementos finitos foram realizadas para o levantamento da resposta do mesmo. A resposta do sensor foi validada através de testes estáticos e em escoamentos em plantas controladas, onde os resultados foram comparados com os obtidos, em medidas simultâneas com o sensor wire-mesh, adotado como referência neste trabalho. Os resultados obtidos mostram que o sensor capacitivo é capaz de medir os parâmetros de forma satisfatória. Assim, este sensor pode ser empregado em trabalhos futuros como ferramenta simples para monitoração de escoamentos bifásicos. / Two-phase flow is frequently found in industrial activities, for instance in chemical reactors or during oil production and transport, where gas-liquid flow type is the most common. Such flow is characterized by the simultaneous passage of two immiscible fluids in a pipe. The fluids may assume various spatial distributions in a pipe, which are classified into flow regimes. In many cases, the type of flow determines the efficiency and safety of the processes or plants in which they occur. The objective of this work is to develop a smart sensor for real-time monitoring of two-phase flows. Here two important monitoring parameters were selected; the first is the gas void fraction and the second translational bubble velocities. To this aim, a capacitive probe was developed that exploits the difference in electrical permittivity of the phases. In addition, a previously developed electronics have been further developed to make it possible to measure two channels simultaneously and the firmware has been modified for performing the calculation of the two parameters directly in the embedded microcontroller. The response of the capacitive probe depends not only on the volume fraction of the phases, but it also depends on the way they are distributed inside the pipe. In order to account for this, electric field simulations by finite element method were performed to survey the sensor responses. The overall sensor response was validated by static tests and controlled flow experiments in a pilot plant. The measurement results were compared with those obtained by simultaneous measurements with a wire-mesh sensor which was adopted as reference in this study. The results show that the capacitive sensor is able of measuring the parameters satisfactorily. Hence, the sensor can be applied in future work as a simple tool for two-phase flows monitoring.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-17T14:53:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rafael Oliveira Nunes.pdf: 2514852 bytes, checksum: 72d45d30f5d3d54f97f6401ca5005607 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-12-23 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Programmable integrated circuits for specified applications enable its adjustment after fabrication, to fit more than one application within a certain set of applications. These circuits are flexible, but could lose in performance when compared to other circuit constructed to serve only a specific application. A programmable system can be applied to measurements involving a set of sensors with different characteristics of signals and an analog-to-digital converter. The signal range for each sensor should be adjusted as close to the input range of analog-digital converter as possible, to ensure the measurement with the full range of the signal. A solution for ensure the adjustable ranges is the employ a measurement system with programmable conditioning circuit. In this work, an analog-to-digital converter with adjustable input range is proposed, providing, equivalently, an adjustable gain value to the analog input signal. The gain values compose a minimum set to ensure no loss of measurement range of the signal, with loss of resolution within an acceptable limit. The proposed converter is a discrete integrator type with switched capacitor circuits. Behavioral and SPICE simulations were performed to validate the proposed converter. / Circuitos integrados programáveis possibilitam o seu ajuste após a fabricação, para se adequar a mais de uma aplicação dentro de um conjunto determinado de aplicações. Esses circuitos são flexíveis, mas podem perder em desempenho quando comparado a outro circuito fabricado para servir a apenas uma aplicação específica. Um sistema programável pode ser aplicado em medições que envolvam um conjunto de sensores com características diferentes de sinais e um conversor analógico-digital. A faixa de sinal em cada sensor deve ser ajustada o mais próximo da faixa de entrada do conversor analógico-digital, para garantir a medição com a faixa completa do sinal. Uma solução para garantir o ajuste das faixas é o uso de um sistema de medição com circuito de condicionamento programável. Neste trabalho, um conversor analógico-digital com faixa de entrada ajustável é proposto, proporcionando, de forma equivalente, um valor de ganho ajustável ao sinal analógico de entrada. Os valores de ajuste pertencem a um conjunto mínimo de ganhos definidos para garantir que não haja perda da faixa de medição do sinal, com perda de resolução dentro de um limite aceitável. O conversor proposto é do tipo integrador discreto com circuitos a capacitor chaveado. Simulações comportamentais e em SPICE foram realizadas de forma a validar o conversor proposto.

La miniaturisation croissante des systèmes électroniques implique de réduire la taille des composants électroniques, en particulier des composants passifs (condensateurs, résistances et inductances), notamment les condensateurs, volumineux et de surcroît nombreux. Pour répondre à cette attente, une des options est d’intégrer « enterrer » les couches capacitives dans le circuit imprimé à base de matériaux composites céramique/polymère. Dans un premier temps, plusieurs types de matériaux composites à base de nanoparticules de céramique (BaTiO3 et BaSrTiO3) et de polyester pour des condensateurs enterrés sont développés. Ensuite, la permittivité ε’ et les pertes diélectriques des composites sont évaluées dans les gammes de fréquences entre [10 kHz – 10 MHz] et [1 GHz – 5 GHz]. En vue d’intégrer ces composants à l’intérieur du circuit imprimé parfois souple et flexible, le comportement piézoélectrique des composites est évalué. La mesure du courant de fuite permettant d’effectuer une analyse qualitative des matériaux composites a été également effectuée.Au niveau de l’étude des condensateurs enterrés dans le circuit imprimé, deux structures de tests ont été réalisées : l’une montée en parallèle et l’autre en série. L’étude est réalisée sur deux gammes de condensateurs. La première est à base de matériau composite stable en fréquence et la seconde varie avec la fréquence. Pour cela, une méthode originale qui permet d’extraire la variation de la permittivité εr (f) à haute fréquence a été développée. La méthode se repose principalement sur l’utilisation des résultats de mesure de la permittivité relative du condensateur en basse fréquence, et les résultats de la valeur de la fréquence de résonance obtenue en simulation électromagnétique.Enfin, pour améliorer la fréquence de fonctionnement des condensateurs enterrés, des règles de conception permettant de comprendre l’influence des vias de connexions et de la géométrie des électrodes sur la fréquence de résonance du dispositif de test sont étudiées. / The increasing miniaturization of electronic systems involves reducing the size of electronic components, in particular passive components (capacitors, resistors and inductors), including capacitors, large and many more. To meet this expectation, one of the options is to integrate "bury" the capacitive layers based on ceramic / polymer composites in the PCB. In a first step, several types of composite materials based on nanoparticle ceramic (BaTiO3 and BaSrTiO3) and polyester for buried capacitors are developed. Then, the permittivity ε' and the dielectric losses of the composites are measured in the ranges of frequencies between [10 kHz - 10 MHz] and [1 GHz - 5 GHz]. To integrate these components within the PCBs sometimes soft and flexible, the piezoelectric behavior of composites is evaluated. The measurement of leakage current to perform a qualitative analysis of composite materials was also made.At the level of the study of buried capacitors in the circuit board, two test structures were carried out: one mounted in parallel and the other in serial. The study is produced in two ranges of capacitors. The study is conducted on two capacitors ranges. The first case, the relative permittivity does not depend on the frequency while in the second case the frequency dependence is taken into account. For this, an original method which allows to extract the permittivity εr(f) variation in high-frequency was developed. The method is mainly based on the use of measurement results of the relative permittivity of low-frequency capacitor, and the results of resonance frequency value obtained by 3D HFSS electromagnetic simulation. Finally, to improve the operating frequency of the buried capacitors, design rules allowing understand the influence of the vias and geometry of electrodes on the resonant frequency of the structures are studied.

The temperature and/or entropy of electrically polarisable materials can be altered by changing electric field E. Research into this electrocaloric (EC) effect has focussed on increasing the size of the EC effects, with the long-term aim of building a cooler with an EC material at its heart. Materials and experimental methods are briefly reviewed. A ‘resetting’ indirect route to isothermal entropy change ∆S for hysteretic first-order transitions is described. An indirect route to adiabatic temperature change ∆T, without the need for field-resolved heat capacity data, is also described. Three temperature controllers were built: a cryogenic probe for 77-420 K with ∼5 mK resolution, a high-temperature stage with vacuum enclosure for 295-700 K with ∼15 mK resolution, and a low-temperature stage for 120-400 K with electrical access via micropositioners. Automation enables dense datasets to be compiled. Single crystals of inorganic salts (NH4)2SO4 , KNO3 and NaNO2 were obtained. Applying 380 kV cm−1 across (NH4)2SO4 , it was found that |∆S| ∼ 20 J K−1 kg−1 and |∆T | ∼ 4 K, using the indirect method near the Curie temperature TC = 223 K. Without the ‘resetting’ indirect method, |∆S| ∼ 45 J K−1 kg−1 would have been spuriously found. Preliminary indirect measurements on KNO3 and NaNO2 give |∆S| ∼ 75 J K−1 kg−1 for ∆E ∼ 31 kV cm−1 near TC = 400 K and |∆S| ∼ 14 J K−1 kg−1 for ∆E ∼ 15 kV cm−1 near TC = 435 K, respectively. A cation-ordered PbSc0.5Ta0.5O3 ceramic showing a nominally first-order transition at 295 K was obtained. The Clausius-Clapeyron phase diagram is revealed via indirect measurements where |∆S| ∼ 3.25 J K−1 kg−1 and |∆T | ∼ 2 K, and direct measurements where |∆T | ∼ 2 K. Clamped samples show broadening of the field-induced transition. Epitaxial, ∼64 nm-thick SrTiO3 films were grown by pulsed laser deposition on NdGaO3 (001) substrates with a La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 bottom electrode. The indirect method gives |∆S| ∼ 8 J K−1 kg−1 and |∆T | ∼ 3.5 K near 180 K with |∆E| = 780 kV cm−1. Finite element modelling (FEM) was used to optimise the geometry of multilayered capacitors (MLCs) for EC cooling. Intrinsic cooling powers of 25.9 kW kg−1 are predicted for an optimised MLC based on PVDF-TrFE with Ag electrodes.

MU LT I L E V E L inverters are becoming the preferred choice for medium voltage high power applications. Multilevel inverters have a number of inherent advantages over conventional two level inverters. The output voltage has multiple steps or levels, resulting in reduced dV/dt, which leads to lower electromagnetic interference, making it easier to meet electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) regulations. Multilevel inverters have a much lower effective switching frequency, which leads to a reduction in switching losses. The output voltage of multilevel inverters has a much lower harmonic content. In applications such as power conversion or grid-connection, filters need to be much smaller, or can be eliminated. In motor drive applications, the low harmonic content results in smoother, ripple-free shaft torque. The neutral-point clamped (NPC), cascaded H-bridge (CHB) and flying capacitor (FC) topologies were among the earliest multilevel topologies. NPC topologies require additional clamping diodes to clamp the output to the DC bus midpoint. CHB topologies use a number of isolated DC suplies to generate multilevel output. FC topologies work with a single DC link but use additional floating capacitors. Since then, a number derivatives and improvements to these topologies have been proposed. Topologies with low switch counts are desirable because of the corresponding reduction in system size and cost. A low total component count is also desirable since it results in better reliability. Induction motors in high power applications are often operated in the open-end configuration. Here, the start terminals of the motor phase windings are connected to one three phase inverter, while the end terminals are connected to a second three-phase inverter. The two inverters are typically powered by isolated supplies to prevent the flow of common mode currents through the motor. The open end configuration has a number of advantages It can be used with nearly all high power motors with no need for electrical or mechanical modification, since all six winding terminal are available externally. The two inverters driving the open-end motor are effectively cascaded. As a result, two inverters of lower voltage and power rating can replace a single inverter with higher voltage and power rating. In addition, if one of the inverter fails, it can be bypassed and the system can be operated at reduced power. In many applications such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), the load power is proportional to the cube of the shaft speed, so a 50% reduction in power translates to only 20% reduction in speed, thereby improving overall system reliability. The cascading of inverters also enables multilevel operation, which is exploited for the topologies proposed in this thesis. In the open-end configuration it is important to ensure that both the DC supplies deliver power to the load. Otherwise, power can circulate through the motor windings. In addition, if the two inverters are powered by rectifier supplies, the DC bus of one inverter can charge uncontrollably, resulting in distortion of phase voltages and currents. If DC bus overcharging continues unchecked the DC bus voltage can even exceed the system rating, resulting in permanent damage. This thesis proposes two novel topologies for open-end induction motor drives with low switch counts. Both topologies are powered by two unequal, isolated DC sources having DC voltages in a 3:1 ratio. Multiple levels in the output voltage are obtained using a number of floating capacitors in each phase. Modulation and control schemes are also proposed for both topologies to ensure that DC bus overcharging never occurs, while all the capacitor voltages are kept balanced at their nominal values. The first of these two topologies is a nine level inverter for open end induction motor drives. It consists of two three-level flying capacitor inverters connected to the induction motor in the open end configuration. The two inverters are powered by DC sources of voltage 6VDC/8 and 2VDC/8, which generates an effective phase voltage having nine levels in steps of VDC/8. This topology has only eight switches and two floating capacitors per phase. The space vector structure for this topology is hexagonal, and has 217 space vector locations. A space-vector based formulation is used to determine the pole voltage of the inverter such that DC bus over charging is prevented. In addition, selection of switching states is used to balance the voltages of all floating capacitors. This scheme allows the floating capacitors to be charged up during system startup, thereby eliminating the need for separate pre-charging circuitry. A level-shifted carrier PWM based modulation scheme has been developed, which can be used with both scalar and vector control schemes. The gating signal for switches turning on must be delayed by a small amount (to allow the complementary switch to turn of), failing which current shoot through can occur. This delay is called dead time, during which gate signals to both complementary devices are turned of. Under certain conditions in the flying capacitor topology, the pole voltage can contain large undesirable transients during the dead time which result in phase current distortion, and electromagnetic noise. A novel scheme to eliminate this problem is proposed using a digital state machine approach. The switching state for each subsequent switching interval is determined based on the present switching state such that the pole voltage does not contain a transient, without affecting the phase voltage of the inverter, and irrespective of the current magnitude or direction. The state machine was implemented using an FPGA, and required an additional computation time of just 20ns, which is much smaller than the inverter dead time duration of typically 2.5µs. The second novel topology proposed in this thesis is a seventeen level inverter for an open end induction motor drive. Here, one three-level inverter and one seven-level inverter are connected to the two ends of the induction machine. The three-level inverter is a flying capacitor inverter. The seven-level inverter is a hybrid topology – it consists of an H-bridge cascaded to each phase of a three level flying capacitor inverter. This scheme is also powered by two isolated DC sources in 3:1 ratio with magnitudes 12VDC/16 and 4VDC/16. The effective phase voltage has seventeen levels in steps of VDC/16. This topology has a total of twelve switches and three floating capacitors per phase. The space vector structure for this topology is hexagonal, and has 817 space-vector locations. Space vector analysis was used to determine the pole voltages, and the switching states such that DC bus overcharging is prevented while also balancing the voltages of the floating capacitors. A non-iterative algorithm was developed for determining the switching states, suitable for implementation in digital logic using an FPGA. The scheme is able to charge the all capacitors at startup as well, eliminating the need for separate pre-charging circuits. Hardware prototypes were built for both the topologies described above for experimental verification, and used to drive a three phase 50Hz, 1.5kW, four pole induction motor in V/f control mode. The inverters topologies were built using 1200V, 75A IGBT half-bridge modules (Semikron SKM75GB12T4) with hybrid opto-isolated gate drivers (Mitsubishi M57962). Three phase rectifiers were used to create the asymmetric DC supplies Hall effect sensors were used to sense the DC link and floating capacitor voltages and phase currents (LEM LV20P voltage sensors and LA55 current sensors). Signal conditioning circuitry was built using discrete components. The PWM signals and V/f controller were implemented using a digital signal processor (Texas Instruments TMS320F28335). Synchronous PWM with was used to eliminate sub-harmonics from the phase voltage, and to ensure three-phase and half-wave symmetry. The internal ADC of the DSP was used for sampling all voltages and currents. The remaining digital logic for switch state selection was implemented on a FPGA (Xilinx Spartan3 XC3S200). Dead time functionality was also implemented within the FPGA, eliminating the need for separate dead time hardware. Both topologies were first tested for steady state operation over the full modulation range, and the pole voltages, phase voltages and phase currents were recorded. System startup, and the ability of the controllers to balance all the capacitors at startup was tested next. The capacitor voltages were also observed during sudden loading, by quickly accelerating the motor. Finally, the phenomenon of DC bus overcharging was also demonstrated. These results demonstrate the suitability of the proposed topology for a number of applications, including industrial drives, alternate energy systems, power conversion and electric traction.

Depuis une bonne dizaine d'année, l'aéronautique a entamé sa mutation vers le "plus électrique".L'objectif étant de réduire la consommation de carburant, une des contraintes majeures de ces nouvelles solutions est de réduire la masse embarquée. Les filtres dimensionnés pour les convertisseurs statiques doivent donc être optimisés au mieux vis-à-vis de ce critère, ainsi que du volume. Il y a donc un fort besoin du côté des concepteurs d’avions de savoir quels choix parmi les différentes possibilités technologiques sont optimaux, et de connaître l'impact de ces choix sur le poids, le coût global et le volume de l'équipement. Le filtre CEM représente généralement environ 30% du coût et du volume d'un convertisseur électronique de puissance. Il va de soi que le volume et/ou la masse de ces filtres doit être optimisé. L'impact de la loi de commande du convertisseur, le choix des semi-conducteurs, du packaging, câbles (longueur et intégration dans l’avion), des machines électriques,...doivent être parfaitement connus pour atteindre un dimensionnement optimal.Dans cette perspective, les objectifs de ces travaux de thèse visent à fournir non seulement une démarche méthodologique pour la modélisation haute fréquence des variateurs de vitesse dédiés aux applications aéronautiques mais aussi une approche de dimensionnement par optimisation des filtres CEM. Pour cela, un outil logiciel évolutif d’aide à la génération rapide des modèles CEM est proposé. Une description modulaire et une mise en équation automatique du modèle fréquentiel complet ainsi que des gradients en facilitent l'utilisation en procédures d’optimisation sous contraintes. L’approche présentée dans ces travaux est relativement générique : la topologie du filtre, de la structure du convertisseur, du câblage et la loi de commande peuvent être facilement recalculées, grâce à cet environnement logiciel. / The More Electrical Aircraft concept is very promising regarding energy saves, but generates new problems, and especially the emergence of new power electronics loads on the electrical network. Keeping the same level of safety in the aircraft means developing these switching mode converters in accordance with the aircraft standards, as the DO160. This is not obvious since weights of equipments are especially constrained: indeed, the objective of weight and energy save needs to be balanced with the additional weight and volume of the required EMI filters. There is thus a strong need in helping the aircraft designers to choose among the various technological possibilities, and to know the impact of these choices on the global weight, cost and volume of the embedded equipments. The EMI filter usually represents roughly 30% of the cost and volume of a power electronics converter, and it is very important to optimize it. The impact of the converter control law, semiconductors choice, interconnects realization, harness selection and placement, electrical motors characteristics… should be perfectly known in order to reach a good system design. In this perspective, the objectives of this thesis are to provide not only an approach for modelling high frequency variable speed drives dedicated to aerospace applications but also a methodology to optimize the required EMI filters. For this purpose, new architecture software dedicated to the rapid generation of EMC models is proposed. A modular description and a complete automatic model generation facilitate the use by the designer in optimization procedures thanks to automatic gradient computation.The methodology presented in this work is not specifically developed for a given application. It is a very generic approach: the topology of the filter, the structure of the inverters, interconnects and the control law can be easily recalculated, using this software environment. Consequently, the impact of all these elements on the electromagnetic disturbances can be characterized, and the EMI filter optimized.

Ferroelectricity is a material property were a remanent polarization exists under zero electrical field that can be reversed by applying an electrical field [1]. As consequence, two nonvolatile states exist that can be switched by an electrical field. This feature makes ferroelectrics ideally suited for nonvolatile memories with low write energy. Therefore, already in the 1950s first attempts have been made to realize ferroelectric nonvolatile memories based on ferroelectric barium titanate (BTO) crystals having evaporated electrodes on both sides [2]. The success of this approach was hindered by disturb issues that could be solved in the early 1990s by adding a transistor device as a selector [3]. Such a memory is referred to as a ferroelectric random access memory (FeRAM). Since reading of the ferroelectric polarization from a capacitor requires switching of the ferroelectric [1], the information will be destroyed and a write back is necessary. This can be avoided if the ferroelectric is placed inside of the gate stack of a MOS transistor resulting in a ferroelectric field effect transistor (FeFET) [1]. Conventional ferroelectric materials like BTO or lead- zirconium titanate (PZT) cannot be placed directly on silicon since unwanted interface reactions will occur. The necessary interface layer together with the space charge region of the transistor device leads to a rather low capacitance in series with the ferroelectric dielectric and consequently results in a strong depolarization field that has destroyed the nonvolatility of the FeFET device for many years and hinters scaling as well [4]. Today FeRAM devices are established on the market [3,5], but are limited to niche application since scaling is hindered by many integration problems associated to materials like PZT.

The aim of the thesis is to examine the dielectric function Ta2O5 insulating layers in tantalum capacitors. The capacitor plugged in the regular mode represents a MIS structure of reverse direction. Three different factors can be determined for the residual current of the component according to its charge transmission mode: the ohmic, Pool–Frenkel, tunnel and Schottky. An apparatus was constructed by the author of the thesis to measure the temporary connection between residual current and rise of temperature of the tantalum capacitors. Annealing of three different sets of tantalum capacitors made by different producers was performed at the temperature of 400 K and nominal voltage of 35 V during the period of 20 days.The experiment has proved the residual current in the electric field changes with rising temperature in time as a result of the ion movement. The singular factors of the residual current are influenced during the process. By the “ion movement” is meant the ion drift influenced by the attached electric field and diffusion caused by the concentration gradient. First, the samples were being annealed for c. 2 x 106 s, and then the residual current was being regenerated under the voltage of 5 V for 106 s. The residual current values increased considerably after annealing, and decreased again to more or less the original level after the regeneration, some of the samples reaching even values bellow the original level. The VA characteristics of the samples measured before and after the process of controlled obsolescence, and after the regeneration prove not only a change in parameters of the different current factors, but also a change of the current transmission mechanism employed in the process.

Aujourd’hui, les exigences croissantes en termes de compétitivité requièrent la conception de systèmes électronique de puissance ayant un encombrement minimal tout en gardant une bonne fiabilité. La combinaison de ces deux caractéristiques est absolument requise au niveau d’un système aussi bien qu’au niveau d’un composant. On cite notamment le cas des condensateurs d’aluminium à électrolyte liquide, qui sont largement utilisés comme réservoir de stockage de l’énergie électrostatique. Cette fonction est nécessaire dans les systèmes électroniques de puissance pour fournir l’énergie aux différentes parties à chaque appel de courant. D’après la littérature, l’étude et l’évaluation de la fiabilité de ces systèmes reposent fortement sur celle des condensateurs d’aluminium à électrolyte liquide ainsi que sur d’autres composants identifiés comme critiques (Transistors MOS de découpage, isolants dans les transformateurs, …etc.). Le premier chapitre débute par une présentation de la technologie des condensateurs est détaillée en indiquant les différents paramètres qui les caractérisent et les différents travaux réalisés dans la littéraire sur l’étude et l’évaluation de la fiabilité de ces composants. Dans le deuxième chapitre, les essais de vieillissement sont élaborés en se basant sur le profil de mission du système. Ensuite, les évolutions des caractéristiques ayant une dégradation significative sont modélisées. Le troisième chapitre porte sur la caractérisation physico-chimique du condensateur afin de comprendre et expliquer les modes de défaillance enregistré pendant les essais de vieillissement. Le dernier chapitre est consacré à la réalisation des essais de vieillissement sur système simulant la dissipation de la chaleur des composants adjacents aux condensateurs. Des mesures électriques sont faites en temps réel afin de superviser la tension à leurs bornes. Enfin, un essai de stress mécanique est réalisé afin de permettre d’évaluer l’impact des vibrations sur la connectique des condensateurs neufs et vieillis. / Today, the increasing demands in terms of competitiveness require the design of electronic power systems having a minimal bulk while maintaining a good reliability. The combination of these two features is required at a system level as well as at a component level. It is particularly the case of liquid electrolyte aluminum capacitors, which are widely used as storage tanks forelectrostatic energy. This function is necessary in electronic power systems to provide energy to the different parts with each current draw. According to the literature, the study and the evaluation of the reliability of these systems rely heavily on that of liquid electrolyte aluminum capacitors as well as on other components identified as critical (MOS switching transistors, insulators in transformers, etc.). The first chapter begins with a detailed presentation of the technology of capacitors by indicating the various parameters that characterize them and the different work done in the literary on the study and evaluation of the reliability of these components. In the second chapter, aging tests are developed based on the mission profile of the system. Then, the evolutions of characteristics having a significant degradation are modeled. The third chapter deals with the physico-chemical characterization of the capacitor in order to understand and to explain the failure modes recorded during the aging tests. The last chapter is devoted to performing aging tests on a system which is simulating the heat dissipation of components adjacent to capacitors. Electrical measurements are realized in real time to monitor the voltage at their terminals. Finally, a mechanical stress test is carried out to evaluate the impact of vibrations on the connection of new and aged capacitors.