abstract: Graphene, a one atomic thick planar sheet of carbon atoms, has a zero gap band structure with a linear dispersion relation. This unique property makes graphene a favorite for physicists and engineers, who are trying to understand the mechanism of charge transport in graphene and using it as channel material for field effect transistor (FET) beyond silicon. Therefore, an in-depth exploring of these electrical properties of graphene is urgent, which is the purpose of this dissertation. In this dissertation, the charge transport and quantum capacitance of graphene were studied. Firstly, the transport properties of back-gated graphene transistor covering by high dielectric medium were systematically studied. The gate efficiency increased by up to two orders of magnitude in the presence of a high top dielectric medium, but the mobility did not change significantly. The results strongly suggested that the previously reported top dielectric medium-induced charge transport properties of graphene FETs were possibly due to the increase of gate capacitance, rather than enhancement of carrier mobility. Secondly, a direct measurement of quantum capacitance of graphene was performed. The quantum capacitance displayed a non-zero minimum at the Dirac point and a linear increase on both sides of the minimum with relatively small slopes. The findings - which were not predicted by theory for ideal graphene - suggested that scattering from charged impurities also influences the quantum capacitance. The capacitances in aqueous solutions at different ionic concentrations were also measured, which strongly suggested that the longstanding puzzle about the interfacial capacitance in carbon-based electrodes had a quantum origin. Finally, the transport and quantum capacitance of epitaxial graphene were studied simultaneously, the quantum capacitance of epitaxial graphene was extracted, which was similar to that of exfoliated graphene near the Dirac Point, but exhibited a large sub-linear behavior at high carrier density. The self-consistent theory was found to provide a reasonable description of the transport data of the epitaxial graphene device, but a more complete theory was needed to explain both the transport and quantum capacitance data. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Electrical Engineering 2010

This thesis reports on a design and modeling of a micro-machined gyroscope. The proposed sensor is a dual mass type, electro-statically driven to primary mode oscillation and senses, capacitively, the output signal. Full decoupling between drive and sense modes minimizes the mechanical crosstalk and based on this a novel gyroscope is designed and modeled which has separate sensing and driving masses. The dual mass gyroscope is designed such that driving and sensing resonant frequency is 23101 Hz with 0% mismatch (in simulation)with quality factor of 31.6227 and bandwidth of 730.51Hz. The gyroscope when actuated in simulation with 25V ac and 10V dc showed sensing capacitance variation of 126aF for 1 rad/s with base capacitance of 244.16fF. To the design of the gyroscope a new semi automatic tool was formulated for the noise analysis and noise based optimization of the resonant MEMS structures. Design of a sensitive gyroscope needs to take into account the noise shaping induced by damping phenomena at micro scale and is critical for optimization. The analysis was further extended to the design of the gyroscope and estimation shows that there is a trade of between the S/N ratio and the sensitivity and the design could be made much better in-terms of S/N by tuning its resonant frequency to 10⁶Hz. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of / Graduate

In the master´s thesis author deals with simulations of electromagnetic fields and their applications in the electric practice at the design of electromagnetic devices. The first part of thesis deals with 3 electromagnetic field simulation softwares, their comparison and selection of the best software for the practical part of the thesis. The second part contains the practical applications of electrostatic and electromagnetic field simulation of HT power supply.

The main objective of the research was the fabrication and characterization of MOS/MIS capacitors with ZnO as the insulating layer. Comparison with the already well known behavior of MOS/MIS capacitors with SiO2 as insulator was used to facilitate determination of the ZnO characteristics. Moreover, thermal annealing of the samples led to increased understanding of the role of defects on the dielectric properties of the ZnO layers in the MOS/MIS devices. Hall-effect transport measurements and x-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy are used to analyze the structure and electronic surface characteristics of the ZnO insulator. Capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements are used to understand the effect of surface interface charges and fixed oxide charges in the MOS/MIS (metal-oxide (insulator)-semiconductor) capacitor. The results of the Hall-effect measurement will reveal several things; the sheet resistance, carrier concentration, and mobility as well as confirm the type of silicon used. The optical spectrophotometry measurement confirmed the band gap of 3.2 eV for ZnO. The x-ray diffraction data confirmed a (002) orientation polycrystalline wurtzite ZnO structure. Initial capacitance-voltage measurement of SiO2 and ZnO revealed that the capacitance was larger for SiO2 than for ZnO. This study also explores the impact of thermal annealing on the performance of the ZnO capacitors. Hall-effect measurements are used to evaluate the influence of thermal annealing on the resistivity, carrier concentration and mobility as a function of annealing temperature. ZnO is an n-type semiconductor; this n-type conductivity is due to deviations from the stoichiometry as a result of oxygen vacancies and interstitial zinc. After ZnO samples were annealed at different temperatures, the Hall-effect measurements were performed. After thermal annealing, the mobility increased significantly by two orders of magnitude, but both the carrier concentration and the sheet density decreased. A threshold voltage (turn-on) of -1V was observed for the ZnO sample annealed at 980oC. ZnO is very versatile material with the potential for use in field effect transistors, solar cells, sensors, surface acoustic wave devices and photodiodes due to the high conductivity and high transmittance in the visible part of the spectrum. ZnO as an insulator works through analytical solutions, but not necessarily through this investigation. The difference in oxide thickness during rf magentron sputtering change the capacitance for ZnO making it lower. For n-type substrates it appears that the capacitance after annealing was higher than the capacitance before annealing. After annealing, a stretched out capacitance-voltage curve indicates the presence of trapped oxide charges and an unsmoothed surface. A high resistivity material could be used for some devices. However, typically low resistivity materials are used. After ZnO samples were annealed (unetched) at different temperatures, the Hall-effect were performed and the mobility increased significantly by two orders of magnitude, but the sheet density decreased along with the carrier concentration. The only sample that appears to come to a high frequency C-V in equilibrium is the ZnO sample annealed at 980oC. The depletion region was distinguishable and the transition point (threshold voltage) was found to be at -1 V.

Piezoceramic fiber composite (PFC) actuators and sensors offer many advantages over conventional monolithic piezoceramic devices. Conformable, durable and, when equipped with interdigitated electrodes (IDEs), more responsive than regular monolithic devices, PFCs promise to revolutionize the application of piezoelectric materials. Developed by the NASA-Langley Research Center, the Macro-Fiber Composite (MFC) actuator and sensor is the most sophisticated PFC device yet invented. With superior qualities among PFCs in performance, behavior repeatability and manufacturability, the MFC has spawned great interest in the commercial and academic community as a tool in multitudinous engineering applications. While the MFC's characteristics render it a singularly useful device, limited characterization and modeling research on the MFC exists. Empirically designed and assembled, the MFC is poorly understood, especially in terms of its underlying operating principles, its dependence on design parameters and its electrical properties. The majority of published MFC studies focus on experimental quantification of MFC mechanical and actuation properties, and the research that attempts to model the MFC relies totally on finite element analysis. Published works widely assume that analytical models of the MFC are totally impossible. Rectifying gaps in the current body of MFC research, this study presents the first accurate analytical model of the static electrical field properties of the MFC. Implementing the techniques of conformal mapping, a branch of complex analysis, the following chapters derive a closed-form, exact analytical solution describing the electrical potential field and electrical field of the MFC's dual-IDE structure. Based on the conformal mapping solution for the MFC's electrical field, the electrical field of the commercially available MFC is examined and analyzed, introducing an intuitive knowledge of the MFC's operation. Demonstrating the utility of this solution in modeling the MFC, this work also predicts the capacitance and induced strain properties of a continuum of potential MFC designs and offers final suggestions on improving the current commercial MFC design. After establishing the theoretical underpinnings of the analytical MFC model, this report derives the conformal mapping solutions for the MFC, discusses the computational application of the resulting equations and then presents the results of numerical analyses executed using the new analytical model. / Master of Science

Le présent travail a porté sur l’élaboration d’électrodes à base de polymère conducteur et d’un tapis de nanotubes de carbone alignés pour les applications de supercondensateur.Dans la première partie de ce travail, nous avons porté notre attention sur le choix de nos matériaux et nous avons pu déterminer leur comportement électrochimique en milieu liquide ionique. Les deux polymères choisis : le poly(3-méthylthiophène) et le poly(3,4-diméthylthiophène) possèdent des propriétés très différentes en terme de capacitance, de potentiel d’oxydation, de résistance ou de cyclabilité. Afin d’allier ces propriétés entre elles, nous avons réalisé la synthèse de copolymères obtenus par voie électrochimique en milieu liquide ionique aprotique. Cette électro-co-polymérisation nous a permis d’obtenir une large gamme de matériaux aux propriétés variables selon la composition du polymère.Dans la deuxième partie de ce travail, nous avons optimisé la synthèse électrochimique d’un nanocomposite poly(3-méthylthiophène)/nanotubes de carbone alignés en milieu liquide ionique. Les matériaux obtenus offrent la propriété d’être « auto-supportés » et permettent ainsi de s’affranchir de collecteur de courant. La nanostructuration grâce aux nanotubes et l’absence de collecteur de courant nous ont permis d’améliorer d’un facteur 3 la capacitance spécifique de nos électrodes. Une optimisation des conditions d’élaboration des nanocomposites permettent d’atteindre une capacitance de 180F.g-1 dans EMITFSI à 30°C. / The present work concerned the elaboration of electrodes containing electronic conducting polymer and a carpet of aligned carbon nanotubes for supercapacitor applications. In the first part of this work, we put our attention on the choice of our materials and we were able to determine their electrochemical behavior in ionic liquid. Both chosen polymers : poly(3-méthylthiopène) and poly(3.4-diméthylthiophène) possess very diffrent properties in term of capacitance, oxidation potential, resistance or cyclability. In the second part of this work, we optimized the electrochemical synthesis of a nanocomposite poly(3-méthyltiophène)/aligned carbon nanotubes in ionic liquid. The obtained materials offer the property to be "self-supported" and allow using themselves without current collector. And optimization of the conditions of nanocomposites elaboration allows reaching a capacitance of 180 F.g-1 in EMITFSI in 30°C.

A measurement method of small-capacitance using transient waveforms is proposed in this thesis. A pi-circuit is used to express the stray capacitors between terminals and those from each terminal to ground. Two measuring modes, differential and common modes, are required to obtain the parameters of the circuit. The parameters are determined by transient current waveforms of the modes with an applied voltage, i.e., the open circuited voltage at the end of the current injection cable. The parameters of the pi-type circuit are obtained from a slope of the transient current waveforms or a waveform fitting by a nonlinear method. These methods enable the derivation without a voltage measurement by a probe connecting across the small capacitance, since the parasitic capacitance of the voltage probe obscures the small capacitance. / 博士(工学) / Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering / 同志社大学 / Doshisha University

No description available.

Capacitance-voltage-frequency measurements on n+-GaN/AlxGa1−xN UV/IR dual-band detectors are reported. The presence of shallow Si-donor, deep Si-donor, and C-donor/N-vacancy defect states were found to significantly alter the electrical characteristics of the detectors. The barrier Al fraction was found to change the position of the interface defect states relative to the Fermi level. The sample with Al fraction of 0.1 shows a distinct capacitance-step and hysteresis, which is attributed to C-donor/N-vacancy electron trap states located above the Fermi level (200 meV) at the heterointerface; whereas, the sample with Al fraction of 0.026 shows negative capacitance and dispersion, indicating C-donor/N-vacancy and deep Si-donor defect states located below the Fermi level (88 meV). When an i-GaN buffer layer was added to the structure, an anomalous high-frequency capacitance peak was observed and attributed to resonance scattering due to hybridization of localized Si-donor states in the band gap with conduction band states at the i-GaN/n+-GaN interface.

A firm knowledge about the interaction between the metal surface and adsorbed molecules is imperative for formulating procedures to synthesize nanoparticles (NPs) with predetermined shape and size. The ligand‐metal interaction during NP formation can be mimicked on an electrode surface by electrosorbing ligand molecules on a charged metal surface. Electrochemical methods can provide an ideal platform to study the adsorption behaviour of molecules at the solid‐liquid interface. In addition to classical electrochemical techniques, the combination of spectroscopy with electrochemical methods amplifies mechanistic insights about the surface adsorption processes. The adsorption behaviour of pyridine and one of its derivatives, 4‐dimethylamino pyridine (DMAP) have been well studied due to their potential application in nanoparticle synthesis. However, prior to this work, there has been very limited and conflicting literature available about the adsorption of of pyridine derivatives analogous to DMAP. Among the pyridine derivatives that were studied, some reports indicate that, other than DMAP, only 4‐methoxy pyridine (MOP) can stabilize gold nanoparticles. However, very little is known about the possible differences in the adsorption energy and general behaviour of MOP compared to DMAP. Resolving this knowledge gap is imperative to resolving the conflicting information about pyridine‐based stabilizers for metal nanoparticle applications. The adsorption behaviour of MOP on different crystallographic Au surfaces as a function of pH and surface potential has been investigated in this project. These studied were carried out using classical electrochemical methods including chronocoulometry and differential capacity, as well as modern spectroscopic techniques like Surface Enhanced Infrared Absorption Spectroscopy (SEIRAS). The thermodynamic parameters obtained from electrochemical data shows that adsorption features of MOP is similar to that of DMAP. However, there is a significant difference in the adsorption strength of MOP and DMAP at positive potentials. The SEIRAS data provides much more detailed information about the potential depended orientation of MOP on polycrystalline Au. Cumulative analysis of electrochemical and spectroscopic data provides strong evidence that MOP can stabilize Au(111) facets over wide pH ranges. Moreover, this work provides convincing evidence that the basic nature of substituted pyridine alters the metal to ligand adsorption strength.