Metal-insulator-semiconductors (MIS) are one of the most basic elements in the digital and microwave circuits. Theoretical and experimental investigation has shown that the dominant mode of propagation in MIS is not a quasi-TEM mode at all frequencies. It has been shown that an MIS transmission line is in fact a slow-wave structure in a certain frequency range. Slow-wave structures offer a large effective permittivity, therefore, can be employed to create large propagation delay and to reduce the guided wavelength. These characteristics can be utilized to design compact passive elements such as delay lines, phase shifters and filters. MIS structures can be easily fabricated using the current semiconductor technology. As well, they can be designed to operate in the slow-wave region for implementation of miniaturized passive components. In this thesis, first, an MIS interconnect is designed, fabricated and measured. Then, the transmission line characteristics are extracted from simulated and measured results. Subsequently, the MIS line parameters are used in designing a compact slow-wave meander line structure, which is compatible with silicon-based-packaging (SBP) solutions used in modern system-in-package/system-on-package (SIP/SOP) technologies.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Alberta, 2010. / Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on July 2, 2010). A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Materials Engineering, Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta. Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

Wong Yuen-fai, Dick. / Includes bibliographical references / Thesis (M.Ph.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1985

No description available.

Thesis. 1977. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Includes bibliographical references. / M.S.

The objective of this dissertation is to develop amorphous metal thin films (AMTFs) for two-terminal electrical device and nanolaminate applications. Two AMTFs, ZrCuAlNi and TiAl, are investigated in both two-terminal electrical device and nanolaminate applications. Material properties including composition, atomic order, surface morphology, surface potential, and electrical resistivity are explored. Application of AMTFs as electrodes in tunneling MIM diodes leverages the ultra-smooth AMTF surface morphology which results from the amorphous atomic order of AMTFs. Analysis methodologies using tunneling MIM diode I-V characteristics are described. A methodology used to estimate potential barrier heights is applied to tunneling MIM diode with differing lower electrode material, upper electrode material and upper electrode deposition technique. A second methodology used to estimate relative tunneling MIM diode insulator thickness is also presented. The presented I-V characteristic analysis methodologies illustrate that tunneling MIM diodes fabricated with AMTF lower electrodes possess tunable I-V characteristics. Nanolaminates are layered materials fabricated with alternating dissimilar thin-film layers. The flexibility of AMTF nanolaminates is illustrated through the presentation of amorphous metal/oxide nanolaminates fabricated with differing AMTFs and aqueous solution deposited oxides. TEM and XPS depth profile analysis of realized nanolaminates are presented. The optical dielectric response of ZrCuAlNi/aluminum phosphate oxide (AlPO) and TiAl/AlPO nanolaminates are evaluated through polarized reflectance measurements and effective medium theory. The optical dielectric response of the nanolaminates differ from the optical dielectric response of the component layers. ZrCuAlNi/AlPO and TiAl/AlPO nanolaminates therefore satisfy the definition of metamaterials. / Graduation date: 2012 / Access restricted to the OSU Community at author's request from May 9, 2012 - May 9, 2013

Through the history of mankind, novel materials have played a key role in techno- logical progress. As we approach the limits of scaling it becomes difficult to squeeze out any more extensions to Moore’s law by just reducing device feature sizes. It is important to look for an alternate semiconductor to silicon in order to continue making the progress predicted by Moore’s law. Among the various semiconductor options being explored world-wide, the III-nitride semiconductor material system has certain unique characteristics that make it one of the leading contenders. We explore the III-nitride semiconductor material system for the unique advantages that it offers over the other alternatives available to us. This thesis studies the device applications of epitaxial III-nitride films and nanos- tructures grown using plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PAMBE) The material characterisation of the PAMBE grown epitaxial III-nitrides was car- ried out using techniques like high resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD), field emis- sion scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), room temperature photoluminescence (PL) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The epitaxial III-nitrides were then further processed to fabricate devices like Schottky diodes, photodetectors and surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices. The electrical charcterisation of the fabricated devices was carried out using techniques like Hall measurement, IV and CV measure- ments on a DC probe station and S-parameter measurements on a vector network analyser connected to an RF probe station. We begin our work on Schottky diodes by explaining the motivation for adding an interfacial layer in a metal-semiconductor Schottky contact and how high-k di- electrics like HfO2 have been relatively unexplored in this application. We report the work carried out on the Pt/n-GaN metal-semiconductor (MS) Schottky and the Pt/HfO2/n-GaN metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) Schottky diode. We report an improvement in the diode parameters like barrier height (0.52 eV to 0.63 eV), ideality factor (2.1 to 1.3) and rectification ratio (35.9 to 98.9 @2V bias) after the introduction of 5 nm of HfO2 as the interfacial layer. Temperature dependent I-V measurements were done to gain a further understanding of the interface. We observe that the barrier height and ideality factor exhibit a temperature dependence. This was attributed to inhomogeneities at the interface and by assuming a Gaussian distribution of barrier heights. UV and IR photodetectors using III-nitrides are then studied. Our work on UV photodetectors describes the growth of epitaxial GaN films. Au nanoparticles were fabricated on these films using thermal evaporation and annealing. Al nanostruc- tures were fabricated using nanosphere lithography. Plasmonic enhancement using these metallic nanostructures was explored by fabricating metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetectors. We observed plasmonic enhancement of photocurrent in both cases. To obtain greater improvement, we etched down on the GaN film using reac tive ion etching (RIE). This resulted in further increase in photocurrent along with a reduction in dark current which was attributed to creation of new trap states. IR photodetectors studied in this thesis are InN quantum dots whose density can be controlled by varying the indium flux during growth. We observe that increase in InN quantum dot density results in increase in photocurrent and decrease in dark current in the fabricated IR photodetectors. We then explore the advantages that InGaN offers as a material that supports surface acoustic waves and fabricate InGaN based surface acoustic wave devices. We describe the growth of epitaxial In0.23 Ga0.77 N films on GaN template using molecular beam epitaxy. Material characterisation was carried out using HR-XRD, FESEM, PL and TEM. The composition was determined from HR-XRD and PL measurements and both results matched each other. This was followed by the fabrication of interdigited electrodes with finger spacing of 10 µm. S-parameter results showed a transmission peak at 104 MHz with an insertion loss of 19 dB. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of an InGaN based SAW device. In summary, this thesis demonstrates the practical advantages of epitaxially grown film and nanostructured III-nitride materials such as GaN, InN and InGaN using plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy for Schottky diodes, UV and IR photodetec- tors and surface acoustic wave devices.