Two novel zero-current-switching dc-to-ac inverters: Class-L and Class-M resonant inverters are presented. They are especially suitable for high voltage applications because of their parallel resonant nature. Lamps, particularly fluorescent lamps in the lighting industry, possess a negative impedance feature and require high voltage to start the ignition process, require operating circuits tailored to meet their characteristics. The two inverters are well-suited in these applications. A detailed analysis, systematic design procedure and experimental verification of the two inverters are given. A Fundamental component analysis in the Fourier series expansion is applied for the analysis of the circuits. Steady state characteristics of the inverters, analytically described by the relationship between the output current and voltage are also graphically represented. This provides insight into the characteristics and design of the inverters. The techniques are extended and applied to analyze the zero-voltage-switching Class-D and Class-E resonant inverters. These four inverters form a family of dc-to-ac resonant inverters in terms of input sources and output characteristics. A unique design procedure is also discussed which is made possible from the construction of constant-gain trajectories in the conductance (impedance) plane, where the conductance (impedance) consists of the resonant tank circuit and the load for a given operating frequency. One of the applications of the dc-to-ac inverters is dc-to-dc converter. The Class-D dc-to-dc converters are illustrated as examples. The analytic techniques are also applied to the analysis of the dc-to-dc converters. The flow of the analysis starts with the zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) dc-to-ac inverter and moves to the ZVS dc-to-dc converters, then the ZVS dc-to-dc converters regulated at fixed switching frequency are analyzed, and finally the ZVS dc-to-dc converter is regulated at a fixed switching frequency with a shunt inductor which operates over a wide range of load. A detailed analysis and design procedure for the ZVS Class-D dc-to-dc converter is discussed. An experimental verification of a 1-MHz ZVS Class-D converter is presented. Good agreement is obtained between experimental and theoretical results.

Particle contamination from plasma tools used for the manufacture of VLSI semiconductor devices on silicon wafers is a major cause of device failure. This has fostered a need to understand the fundamentals of particle transport and trapping in plasmas of the kind used to process semiconductor devices. This dissertation reports on particle transport and trapping in two types of plasmas. Particles in both a capacitively coupled and an inductively coupled plasma were investigated in a Gaseous Electronics Conference (GEC) radio frequency (rf) reference cell using a new method of laser light scattering and detection. In a capacitively coupled plasma the role of thermal force and coulombic force on particle transport in post-plasma period was determined through experiment. The charge on particles in the post-plasma was also determined through analysis of particle motion and found to be 1.4 to 12.4 elemental charges per particle. Particle trapping in a capacitively coupled plasma was determined for a simple subsurface electrode structure. For an inductively coupled plasma, the a technique of particle detection is utilized to image particles despite a bright emission from the plasma. Particle trapping was observed to be quite different from trapping in a capacitively coupled plasma, and the post-plasma motion of particles is reported.

Practical steady-state and dynamic design and analysis for high-order dc/dc resonant converters is presented. The analysis is mainly based on two types of the resonant converters, parallel-type and Class-D (a series-type), which are suitable for high-frequency applications. In the analysis of parallel resonant converters, the key step in the derivation of steady-state analytic equations for LLC-type parallel (LLC-PRC) and LLCC-type series-parallel resonant converter (LLCC-SPRC) is to reduce the order of their state-space models. In particular, the analytic equations for LLCC-SPRC can also be used to design and analyze the LC-PRC, LLC-PRC, and LCC-type series-parallel resonant converters. A simple design procedure along with design examples is given based on the derived analytic equations. Experimental LLC-PRC and LLCC-SPRC are implemented to verify the design results. In the analysis of the zero-voltage switch (ZVS) Class-D converter, both steady-state and dynamic analysis methods are presented. The analysis is based on the Class-D converter with a variable capacitance switch (VCS) for voltage regulation at constant frequency. A generalized DC model for steady-state and dynamic analysis of the converter is given. A simplified small-signal model is found from perturbing the DC model and can be used to predict the low-frequency dynamic control- and line-to-output transfer functions. To predict the high-frequency dynamics, two models are derived based on the amplitude and phase modulations from communication theory. Besides the steady-state and small-signal modeling, a strategy to achieve a stable loop gain for closed-loop operation is addressed. A compensation controller for closed-loop operation of the VCS is developed. All the calculated and design results of the dynamic responses are verified based on the experimental measurements from the prototype converter.

Grating structures have found applications in microwave, millimeter wave, and optical devices and systems. While analytical methods can handle infinite, periodic gratings well, numerical methods usually are needed for general finite and/or aperiodic gratings. We have carried out numerical investigations of a number of grating structures with the finite-difference time-domain approach (FDTD). This approach is selected because of its ability to model complex structures and materials. Some of the many grating applications we investigated include gratings that can be used in waveguide environments as output couplers to transfer guided wave energy into radiation fields which propagate into predefined directions, as mode converters to convert energy between various modes in the same waveguide, or as directional couplers to transfer energy between different waveguides. Optical switching is also shown to be achievable and an efficient WDM demultiplexer is proposed and analyzed. The performance of grating assisted couplers in the presence of dispersive materials is also characterized. We have shown that the FDTD simulator is very effective in modeling complicated grating structures. Novel device features and operating behaviors have been revealed through its use. These results and observations provide insight and guidelines for the future design of various other grating assisted devices.

A rapidly growing interest in third generation Personal Communication Networks has underlined the importance of wireless multimedia systems that can support voice, video, images, files, or any combinations thereof. In order to ensure satisfactory quality of service (QoS) for individual multimedia traffic, a new analysis with a new user model based on circuit-switched direct-sequence Code Division Multiple Access (DS-CDMA) system is presented. The new user model is introduced to allow users to transmit data at multiple bit rates and to switch to other bit rates at any time. To facilitate performance analysis, each traffic type with rate s is assumed a probability ps for user k. To ensure satisfactory QoS, a new power control scheme is further proposed for a multimedia circuit-switched DS-CDMA system. Specifically, a new closed-form power control function is introduced to ensure quality of service for each traffic type and to achieve a better overall throughput at the same time. Central to the new closed-form power control function is a parameter called the traffic exponent. By introducing this parameter, the difficulty in obtaining an optimal closed-form power control function is reduced which simplifies the information feedback process from the base station to the mobile stations.

Synthetic aperture radars (SARs) are modern airborne or spaceborne high-resolution imaging systems used in target imaging and terrain mapping applications. SAR systems collect large volumes of complex phase history data that, in some systems, is downlinked to predetermined ground receiving stations for storage and/or subsequent processing. Considering the volume of data generated, SAR phase history data compression techniques are naturally of interest. In this dissertation, three complete SAR phase history data compression systems are presented. Two compression systems are based on trellis coded quantization and can be used to compress phase history data collected by a SAR system, independent of the SAR's mode of operation. The third compression system employs an optimal rate allocation strategy. It is designed specifically for spotlight mode SAR systems and utilizes the fundamental result that a complex image can be formed from spotlight mode SAR phase history data using a (windowed) two-dimensional FFT. Performance evaluations are presented for these compression systems relative to other existing SAR phase history data compression systems.

The Partial Element Equivalent Circuit method is used to develop a flexible, hierarchical electromagnetic modeling and simulation environment for the analysis of noise generation and signal degradation mechanisms in packaged electronic components and systems. The circuit-oriented approach used by the method for the development of the numerical approximation of the electric field integral equation is used to develop a SPICE-compatible, yet fully dynamic, discrete approximation of the electromagnetic problem. Contrary to other full-wave formulations, the proposed method has the important attribute of lending itself to a very systematic and physical model complexity reduction on the basis of the electrical size of the various portions of the system. Thus, a hybrid electromagnetic modeling and simulation environment is established for the analysis of complex structures, which exhibit large variation in electrical size over their volume, using a combination of lumped circuit elements, transmission lines, as well as three-dimensional distributed electromagnetic models which may or may not account for retardation, depending on the electrical size of the part of the structure that is being modeled. These special attributes of the proposed electromagnetic simulation environment are demonstrated through several examples from its application to the modeling of noise interactions in generic interconnect and package geometric.

The effects of wavefront conditioning on the performance of holographic optical data storage systems is investigated. The physical origins of various noise mechanisms which degrade the SNR of the holographic storage are studied for the thin phase (DCG) and the photoreflective crystal (LiNbO₃) recording materials. Dependence of the noise on various system parameters such as focal length, pixel size, number of pixels and material parameters are studied. An algorithm is developed to design pseudorandom phase masks which can improve the signal-to-noise ratio for a given system. The noise reduction by using pseudorandom phase mask and a Galilean configuration are investigated theoretically and experimentally. Significant improvement to the signal-to-noise ratio of holographic storage systems is demonstrated experimentally.

Copper in silicon is known to have detrimental effects on silicon devices. Therefore, understanding how copper affects device performance and how copper is distributed in semiconductor device regions are essential pieces of information that are required in order to eliminate copper contamination. This dissertation is primarily devoted to the study of the effects of copper contamination on junction leakage current of diodes and C-t responses of MOS Capacitors. Copper distributions in junction diodes and MOS capacitors were investigated by SIMS and TEM images. An increase of leakage current was observed with increasing copper concentration in heavily doped diode regions. The increase can be modeled by assuming the capture cross section as a function of copper gettered in the n+ or p+ region. Three different shapes of C-t responses were obtained from pulsed MOS capacitors contaminated with copper. S-PISCES simulations, in conjunction with the Zerbst technique, were used to examine the shapes of C-t responses. The three shapes of the C-t curves can be explained by introducing regions with different lifetimes in the simulations. The low minority carrier lifetime region near the Si/SiO2 interface correlates with copper SIMS profiles. The copper diffusion mechanism in n+ or p+ regions was also investigated.

Recent advances in multi-layer insulating substrates, such as low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC), have motivated novel designs of RF/microwave passive components, such as filters, couplers and power combiners, which attempt to take advantage of the third dimension in order to reduce component size. Such designs are highly desirable for miniature transceiver realizations in portable electronic devices. In addition to advances in new materials and manufacturing processes, an important enabling technology for the realization of such systems is a three-dimensional electromagnetic modeling tool capable of providing the accuracy and computational efficiency necessary for design iteration in a three-dimensional conductor layout. We present a novel approach to the frequency-domain integral-equation modeling of conducting structures embedded in a homogeneous dielectric that is shielded by two perfectly-conducting ground planes. Novel closed-form expressions for the impedance matrix elements arising from a Method of Moments solution of the integral equation are developed. These exact expressions were found to improve the computational efficiency over direct numerical integration by two orders of magnitude, greatly reducing matrix fill times. Several simple structures, including a transmission line and three microwave filters are simulated to test and validate the developed expressions.