With the continued evolution of MEMS-based gas chromatography, the drive to develop new standalone systems with lower power consumptions and higher portability has increased. However, with improvements come tradeoffs, and trying to reduce the pressure drop requirements of previously reported semi-packed columns causes a significant sacrifice in separation efficiency. This thesis covers the techniques for evaluating the separation column in a gas chromatography system as well as the important parameters that have the most effect on a column’s efficiency. Ionic liquids are introduced as a stable and versatile stationary phase for micro separation columns. It then describes a MEMS-based separation column design utilizing density modulation of embedded micro-pillars which attempts to optimize the balance between separation efficiency and pressure drop. / Master of Science / Gas chromatography is a technique used by scientists to separate and identify chemical compounds present in a given test mixture. It is a versatile technique that can be used for qualitative and quantitative analysis of complex mixtures in a variety of applications. However, typical gas chromatography systems are confined to a lab because they are large and consume a lot of power. In order to overcome these problems, different research groups have focused their attention towards the development of portable MEMS-based gas chromatography systems. By miniaturizing the various components of a gas chromatography system, these two main issues can be alleviated. This thesis covers the strategies used to develop and evaluate the separation column of a gas chromatography system and introduce a new MEMS-based column design that will further reduce the power consumption.

The potential of flexible micro pillars for measuring near wall flow phenom- ena was theoretically and experimentally investigated. The bending of the micro pillars is a measure for the local wall shear stress (WSS) or a visualisa- tion of near wall flow phenomena. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was chosen as material for the sensor. Within the thesis the experimental work with the shear stress sensor mainly has the focus on the transition to turbulence. Closely connected are improvements of the measurement techniques. The transition is thereby investigated qualitatively and quantitatively. Another huge part of the thesis was the improvement of the reliability of the manu- facturing process of the micro pillars. For this purpose new manufacturing methods for single pillars and pillar arrays have been tested. Further on, dif- ferent detection methods for capturing the bending of the pillar were tested, too. The measurements of the transitional flow were performed at flat plate boundary layer in an oil channel. Ondina 913 was used as test fluid. The physical properties of the PDMS changed dramatically while longer exposed to Ondina 913. Hence, it was unfeasible to receive reproducible quantita- tive results. Better results were achieved if the pillars are used as flexible micro tufts revealing the flow and WSS topology directly at the wall quali- tatively. With the pillar sensor it was possible to detect turbulent spots in the transitional state of the flat plate boundary layer. Furthermore, coherent structures and their typical sign in the viscous sublayer could be identified and the occurrence of critical points and back flow could be experimentally verified.

The potential of flexible micro pillars for measuring near wall flow phenom- ena was theoretically and experimentally investigated. The bending of the micro pillars is a measure for the local wall shear stress (WSS) or a visualisa- tion of near wall flow phenomena. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was chosen as material for the sensor. Within the thesis the experimental work with the shear stress sensor mainly has the focus on the transition to turbulence. Closely connected are improvements of the measurement techniques. The transition is thereby investigated qualitatively and quantitatively. Another huge part of the thesis was the improvement of the reliability of the manu- facturing process of the micro pillars. For this purpose new manufacturing methods for single pillars and pillar arrays have been tested. Further on, dif- ferent detection methods for capturing the bending of the pillar were tested, too. The measurements of the transitional flow were performed at flat plate boundary layer in an oil channel. Ondina 913 was used as test fluid. The physical properties of the PDMS changed dramatically while longer exposed to Ondina 913. Hence, it was unfeasible to receive reproducible quantita- tive results. Better results were achieved if the pillars are used as flexible micro tufts revealing the flow and WSS topology directly at the wall quali- tatively. With the pillar sensor it was possible to detect turbulent spots in the transitional state of the flat plate boundary layer. Furthermore, coherent structures and their typical sign in the viscous sublayer could be identified and the occurrence of critical points and back flow could be experimentally verified.

Ce travail porte sur l’étude de matériaux micro/nano structurés permettant l’ingénierie des structures de bande dans le domaine des ondes élastiques. Nous nous sommes intéressés en particulier à l’intégration de ces matériaux dans les dispositifs électro-acoustiques et l’étude de l’interaction avec les ondes acoustiques de surface.La démarche consiste à mener des simulations par la méthode des éléments finis, pour calculer les structures de bande et les spectres de transmission. Nous avons étudié l’effet des paramètres géométriques et élastiques des micro-plots sur les branches acoustiques représentant les modes de surface. Nous avons ensuite discuté l’effet de la symétrie de l’arrangement sur la polarisation des modes de surface. Nous avons également étudié l’effet de la symétrie sur la sensibilité des modes de surface à une variation de température.Sur le plan expérimental, Nous avons élaboré des transducteurs inter-digités sur un substrat piézoélectrique de LiNbO3. Nous avons intégré divers cristaux phononiques composés de micro-plots de Ni, obtenues par électrodéposition. Les spectres de transmission ont été mesurés à l’aide d’un analyseur de réseau et comparés aux résultats theoriques.En dehors des cristaux phononiques basés sur des plots du nickel, d’autres structures ont également été présentées dans ce travail, incluant des matériaux bidimensionnels à base de nanoparticules magnétiques auto-assemblées et des nanofils du nickel électrodéposés à travers des membranes nano-poreuses d’alumine. / This work concerns the study of micro/nano structured materials for the engineering of band structures in the field of elastic waves. We were interested in particular to the integration of these materials in electro-acoustic devices and the study of the interaction with the surface acoustic waves.The approach is to carry out the simulation using the finite element method to calculate the band structures and the transmission spectra. We studied the effect of geometrical and elastic parameters of micro-pillars on acoustic branches representing surface modes. Then we discussed the effect of the symmetry of the arrangement on the polarization of the surface modes. We also investigated the effect of the symmetry on the sensitivity of surface modes with the variation of temperature.Experimentally, we have developed interdigital transducers on a piezoelectric substrate of LiNbO3. We have fabricated various phononic crystals composed of nickel micro-pillars, obtained by electrodeposition. The transmission spectra were measured by a network analyzer and compared with the theoretical results.Besides the phononic crystals based on nickel pillars, some other periodic micro/nano structures were also involved in this work, such as two dimensional materials based on self-assembled magnetic nanoparticles and nickel nanowires electroplated through nano-porous alumina membranes.

Trend towards downsizing the product size and at the same time to bring more functionality in electronic products, demands electrically interconnecting several miniaturized electronic components with high counts of I\Os (Input/Out put) on smaller and smaller size printed wiring boards [PWB]. These miniature components occupy lower foot print area but require higher routing interconnection densities. However, the conventional multilayer board technologies exhibit limitations when there is need to connect very high I\O components such as ball grid arrays, which require blind and buried interconnections within the multilayer mono-block. This limitation has given raise to newer methods of multi layer construction. Build–up multilayer PWB is now the technology of choice for enhanced routing capability including blind and buried interlayer connections. Build up methods are based on making very small vias within dielectric layers followed by metalisation. Typically blind and buried vias are very small, and hence called “micro vias” connecting the layers selectively within the multilayer mono-block. Buried vias make the interconnection between the consecutive layers, and blind vias connect the surface layers to any one of the interior layers in the build up multilayer board. If the blind vias are filled with a dielectric, the entire top and bottom surface area becomes available for high -density component mounting. The crux in build up board technologies is the method of creating micro-holes; a micro hole is a hole, which is less than 150 micro meter in diameter. Efforts are made to replace existing metalising techniques with “paste filling” methodologies, which would result in “SOLID CONDUCTING VIAS” CALLED AS “MICRO -INTERCONNECTS” The work reported in this thesis aims at demonstrating one such innovative ‘solid conducting via’ formation without using any of the known micro-hole formation techniques. Based on the results obtained some useful conclusions have been drawn which will perhaps go a long way in the name of “PRINTED PILLAR TECHNOLOGY” a novel methodology for building multilayer suitable for very high I\O components such as “ball grid arrays.”