Cette thèse porte principalement sur la caractérisation électrique et la modélisation physique d'éléments mémoires émergents de type OxRRAM (Oxide Resistive Random Access Memory) intégrant soit un oxyde de nickel, soit un oxyde de hafnium. Une fois la maturité technologique atteinte, ce concept de mémoire est susceptible de remplacer la technologie Flash qui fait encore figure de référence. Les principaux avantages de la technologie OxRRAM reposent sur une très bonne compatibilité avec les filières CMOS, un faible nombre d'étapes de fabrication, une grande densité d'intégration et des performances attractives en termes de fonctionnement. Le premier objectif de ce travail concerne le diélectrique employé dans les cellules. Il s'agit d'apporter des éléments factuels permettant d'orienter un choix technologique sur la méthode d'élaboration de l'oxyde de nickel (oxydation thermique ou pulvérisation cathodique réactive) puis d'évaluer les performances de cellules à base d'oyxde de hafnium. Le second objectif est d'approfondir la compréhension des mécanismes physiques responsables du changement de résistance des dispositifs mémoire par une approche de modélisation physique des phénomènes opérant lors des phases d'écriture et d'effacement, sujet encore largement débattu dans la communauté scientifique. Le troisième objectif de cette thèse est d'évaluer, par le biais de caractérisations électriques, les phénomènes parasites intervenant dans les éléments mémoires de type 1R (élément résistif sans dispositif d'adressage) et, en particulier, la décharge capacitive apparaissant lors de leur programmation (opérations d'écriture). / This work is focused on the electrical characterization and physical modeling of emerging OxRRAM memories (Oxide Resistive Random Access Memory) integrating nickel or hafnium oxide. After reaching maturity, this memory concept is likely to replace the Flash technology which is still a standard in the CMOS industry. The main advantages of resistive memories technology is their good compatibility with CMOS processes, a small number of manufacturing steps, a high integration density and their attractive performances in terms of memory operation. The first objective of this thesis is to provide enough informations allowing to orientate the elaboration process of the active nickel oxide layer (thermal oxidation, reactive sputtering) then to compare the performances of the fabricated cells with devices featuring a hafnium oxide layer. The second objective is to understand the physical mechanisms responsible of the device resistance change. A physical model is proposed allowing to apprehend SET and RESET phenomenon in memory devices, subject which is still widely debated in the scientific community. The third objective of this thesis is to evaluate electrical parasitic phenomenon observed in 1R-type memory elements (resistive element without addressing device), in particular the parasitic capacitance appearing during cell programming (writing operation).

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T13:58:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 10 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / O objetivo desta dissertação é propor, testar e avaliar o uso de técnicas de Aprendizado de Máquina (ML) na configuração automática do controle do caminhar de robôs com pernas. Para que este objetivo fosse atingido, um extensa pesquisa de técnicas do estado da arte foi realizada e descrita neste trabalho. Esta pesquisa permitiu a elaboração do modelo proposto, chamado de LegGen, que foi implementado em um protótipo. O protótipo modelo em questão permite a utilização de vários tipos de robôs, compostos de quatro, seis ou mais patas, e além disto permite a evolução da morfologia dos robôs. Utilizando o protótipo, é possível a realização de experimentos com robôs autônomos dotados de pernas, em um ambiente virtual tridimensional realístico, através de simulações baseadas em física. Foi utilizada a biblioteca ODE (Open Dynamics Engine) para a simulação de corpos rígidos e articulações, permitindo assim simular forças agindo nas articulações (atuadores), gravidade e colisões, entre outras propriedades físicas dos / The main goal of this dissertation is to propose, to test and to evaluate the use of Machine Learning (ML) techniques in the automatic con_guration of the gait control in legged robots. In order to achieve this goal, an extensive research about state-of-the-art techniques was accomplished and they are described in this work. This research allowed the development of the proposed model, called LegGen, which was implemented in a prototype. The proposed model allows the use of several different robot models with four, six or more paws. Besides that, the prototype allows also to study the robot's morphology evolution. The implemented prototype allows to accomplish experiments with autonomous legged robots, in a realistic three-dimensional virtual environment, through physics based simulations. The ODE (Open Dynamics Engine) software library was used in the physical simulation of rigid bodies and articulations, allowing to simulate forces acting in the articulations (actuators), gravity and collisions, among other

Swarm robotics is the study of developing and controlling large groups of robots. Collectives of robots possess advantages over single robots such as being robust to mission failures due to single-robot errors. Experimental research in swarm robotics is currently limited by swarm robotic technology. Current swarm robotic systems are either small groups of sophisticated robots or large groups of simple robots due to manufacturing overhead, functionality-cost dependencies, and their need to avoid collisions, amongst others. It is therefore useful to develop a swarm robotic system that is easy to manufacture, that utilises its sensors beyond standard usage, and that allows for physical interactions. In this work, I introduce a new type of low-friction locomotion and show its first implementation in the HoverBot system. The HoverBot system consists of an air-levitation and magnet table, and a HoverBot agent. HoverBots are levitating circuit boards which are equipped with an array of planar coils and a Hall-effect sensor. HoverBot uses its coils to pull itself towards magnetic anchors that are embedded into a levitation table. These robots consist of a Printed Circuit Board (PCB), surface mount components, and a battery. HoverBots are easily manufacturable, robots can be ordered populated; the assembly consists of plugging in a battery to a robot. I demonstrate how HoverBot's low-cost hardware can be used beyond its standard functionality. HoverBot's magnetic field readouts from its Hall-effect sensor can be associated with successful movement, robot rotation and collision measurands. I build a time series classifier based on these magnetic field readouts, I modify and apply signal processing techniques to enable the online classification of the time-variant magnetic field measurements on HoverBot's low-cost microcontroller. This method allows HoverBot to detect rotations, successful movements, and collisions by utilising readouts from its single Hall-effect sensor. I discuss how this classification method could be applied to other sensors and demonstrate how HoverBots can utilise their classifier to create an occupancy grid map. HoverBots use their multi-functional sensing capabilities to determine whether they moved successfully or collided with a static object to map their environment. HoverBots execute an "explore-and-return-to-nest" strategy to deal with their sensor and locomotion noise. Each robot is assigned to a nest (landmark); robots leave their nests, move n steps, return and share their observations. Over time, a group of four HoverBots collectively builds a probabilistic belief over its environment. In summary, I build manufacturable swarm robots that detect collisions through a time series classifier and map their environment by colliding with their surroundings. My work on swarm robotic technology pushes swarm robotics research towards studies on collision-dependent behaviours, a research niche that has been barely studied. Collision events occur more often in dense areas and/or large groups, circumstances that swarm robots experience. Large groups of robots with collision-dependent behaviours could become a research tool to help invent and test novel distributed algorithms, to understand the dependencies between local to global (emergent) behaviours and more generally the science of complex systems. Such studies could become tremendously useful for the execution of large-scale swarm applications such as the search and rescue of survivors after a natural disaster.

Les aciers renforcés par dispersion d’oxydes (ODS) sont des matériaux candidats pourconstituer les gaines de combustibles des réacteurs nucléaires de IVème génération refroidis au sodium(RNR-Na). Le soudage par résistance en bout de ces gaines est étudié dans ce travail, avec pourobjectif la détermination et la compréhension des effets du procédé sur l’évolution de la microstructuredes aciers ODS à 9 % et 14 % de chrome à l’échelle des grains et des oxydes nanométriques. Uneapproche couplant caractérisations microstructurales sur soudures, simulation numérique et simulationphysique du procédé, à l’aide d’un simulateur thermomécanique Gleeble 3500, est adoptée. Le soudagepar résistance en bout impose localement des conditions de sollicitations sévères en termes dedéformation, vitesse de déformation et température. Ces sollicitations induisent un affinement de lamicrostructure dont l’origine peut être attribuée à un mécanisme de recristallisation dynamique (acier à14 % de chrome) ou à l’association de la recristallisation dynamique et des transformations de phase(acier à 9 % de chrome). Les conditions d’occurrence de la recristallisation dynamique sont étudiéessur ces matériaux. On montre notamment la possibilité d’une transition entre recristallisation dynamiquecontinue et discontinue sur l’acier à 14 % de chrome en fonction des conditions de sollicitation. Il estégalement observé que ces sollicitations thermomécaniques sévères induisent une augmentation de lataille des oxydes nanométriques associée à une diminution de leur fraction volumique. / Oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) steels are considered as candidate materials for thedevelopment of fuel cladding for sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFR). Resistance upset welding of thecladding is studied in this work. The aim is to determine and to understand the process effects on themicrostructure of ODS steels with 9% and 14% of chromium at the scales of the grains and thenanometric oxides. An approach coupling microstructural characterization of welds, numericalsimulation and physical simulation of the process, using a thermomechanical simulator Gleeble 3500,is proposed. Resistance welding locally imposes severe thermomechanical conditions in terms of strain,strain rate and temperature. Refinement of the microstructure is noted and correspond to a dynamicrecrystallization mechanism (14 % Cr steel) or the combination of dynamic recrystallization and phasetransformations (9 % Cr steel). The conditions of occurrence of dynamic recrystallization are studied.The possibility of a transition between continuous and discontinuous dynamic recrystallization is shownfor the 14 % Cr steel according to the loading conditions. Such severe thermomechanical conditionsinduce an increase in the size of nanoscale oxides associated with a decrease of their volume fraction.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The joining of metals is often associated to metallurgical problems. Specifically, metallurgical transformations in the HAZ (Heat Affected Zone) can occur, what lead to undesirable microestructural changes. The HAZ is a difficult region for studying due to its small dimensions and high thermal gradientes. Thus, in order to overcome this limitation of the HAZ study, there are in the literature different proposes of HAZ-simulator machines (physical simulation), which uses the Joule effect for heating specific coupons that cool down by conduction and convection. This approach intends to simulate the thermal cycle in a real HAZ obtained in a real welding. However, the use of traditional coupons with cylindrical geometry presents restrictions of portraying the real case, i.e., the welding. In the cylindrical geometry option, the obtained thermal cycles do not present temperature gradients closer to the ones in real weldments. Hence, to overcome this limitation, finite elements modeling was carried out and different coupon geometries were simulated. The objective is to reach thermal cycles as close as possible to the ones obtained in a real situation, for a subsequent physical simulation. This approach showed proper and the physical and numerical present coherent results. The next step is the physical simulation validation by comparing to real weldments. This would be the most intuitive way. However, it was proposed to conduct this validation by determining CCT (Continuous Cooling Transformation) diagrams. This approach has the advantage of reaching important technological results at the same time of validating the physical simulation, since CCD diagrams dedicated to welding are very difficult to find in literature. It is possible to concluded that the physical simulation does represent the HAZ and can be used to build up CCT diagrams / Freqüentemente a união de materiais metálicos está associada a problemas metalúrgicos. Especificamente, podem ocorrer modificações metalúrgicas na ZAC (zona afetada pelo calor), levando a alterações microestruturais não adequadas. Contudo esta é uma região de difícil estudo devido a sua pequena dimensão e grandes gradientes térmicos. Assim, a fim de superar esta limitação com relação ao estudo da ZAC, existem na literatura proposições de máquinas de simulação física, que fazem uso do Efeito Joule para o aquecimento de determinados corpos de prova, que se resfriam por condução e convecção, de forma a simular o ciclo térmico obtido por soldagem real. Entretanto, o uso de corpos de provas cilíndricos apresenta restrições em retratar o caso real. Nesta opção de geometria cilíndrica, os ciclos térmicos não apresentam gradientes de temperatura que sejam fiéis àqueles encontrados em uma soldagem. Desta forma, foram realizadas simulações numéricas em elementos finitos, variando-se a geometria dos corpos de prova, de forma a obter ciclos térmicos o mais próximos da realidade para uma posterior simulação física. Esta abordagem de variação da geometria do corpo de prova calculada via simulação numérica mostrou-se adequada, onde os resultados obtidos pela simulação física e numérica mostraram-se coerentes. Como forma de validar os resultados finais obtidos via simulação física, ao invés de se conduzir soldagens reais, o que seria mais intuitivo, optou-se pelo levantamento de Diagramas CCT (Transformação em Resfriamento Contínuo) dedicados à soldagem. Este direcionamento tem a vantagem de se, concomitantemente à validação da simulação física, atingir resultados tecnologicamente muito importantes que são as curvas CCT de difícil acesso na literatura. Conclui-se pela viabilidade da simulação física em retratar a ZAC e pela viabilidade em se conseguir Diagramas CCT para soldagem. / Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica

This work presents a system for semi-autonomous optical localization of distant moving targets using multiple positionable cameras. The cameras were calibrated and stationed using custom designed calibration targets and methodology with the objective to alleviate the main sources of errors which were pinpointed in thorough precision analysis. The detection of the target is performed manually, while the visual tracking is automatic and it utilizes two state-of-the-art approaches. The estimation of the target location in 3-space is based on multi-view triangulation working with noisy measurements. A basic setup consisting of two camera units was tested against static targets and a moving terrestrial target, and the precision of the location estimation was compared to the theoretical model. The modularity and portability of the system allows fast deployment in a wide range of scenarios including perimeter monitoring or early threat detection in defense systems, as well as air traffic control in public space.

This study had the purpose to further the use of industrial lasers in the manufacturing of hairpin electric motors by optimizing the process of contacting the hairpins. A problem with laser beam welding of copper is the porosity created in the process which can lead to increased resistance of the welded region along with degraded mechanical properties. By experiment this study aimed to find the optimal parameters to reduce the porosity while maintaining all other requirements for the weld. The track of achieving a satisfactory simulation was done to minimize the need of physical experiments which can be argued as a sustainable development aspect. A set of parameters was found that achieved a low volume of pores, a sufficient weld depth and a desirable bead geometry. Some pores still remained, mostly at the endpoint of the laser path which could be caused by the laser shut-off leading to a keyhole collapse enclosing some pores in that region. The simulation showed promising results in welding depth and melt region. Further work on ramping the laser power at the endpoint could be beneficial for eliminating the remaining porosity as well as refining the simulation in terms of porosity.

[pt] Nosso trabalho apresenta uma técnica capaz de gerar animações para personagens virtuais. A inspiração desta técnica vem de vários princípios encontrados na biologia, em particular os conceitos de evolução e seleção natural. Os personagens virtuais, por sua vez, são modelados como criaturas semelhantes a animais, com um sistema locomotor capaz de movimentar seus corpos através de princípios simples da física, tais como forças e torques. Como nossa técnica não depende de nenhum pressuposto sobre a estrutura do personagem, é possível gerar animações para qualquer tipo de criatura virtual. / [en] We present a technique for automatically generating animations for virtual characters. The technique is inspired by several biological principles, especially evolution and natural selection. The virtual characters themselves are modeled as animal-like creatures, with a musculoskeletal system that is capable of moving their bodies through simple physics principles, such as forces and torques. Because our technique does not make any assumptions about the structure of the character, it is capable of generating animations for any kind of virtual creature.

Ce travail présente le développement d’un banc de mesure thermique, pour la mesure : de réseaux I (V), d’impédance basse fréquence et de bruit basse fréquence des composants semi-conducteurs. Le banc de mesure de bruit BF est composé d’un amplificateur de tension faible bruit, d’un amplificateur transimpédance, d’un analyseur FFT et d’un support thermique. Ce banc a permis d’extraire les sources de bruit en courants équivalentes aux accès du transistor pour différentes densités de courant et à différentes températures. Dans le but de calculer l’énergie d’activation et la section de capture des pièges grâce à la localisation des fréquences de coupures de bruit GR dans la technologie du TBH InGaP/GaAs. Dans un deuxième temps, nous avons étudié le bruit basse fréquence dans le transistor InGaP/GaAs et les jonctions base émetteur, base collecteur et la résistance TLM par le moyen de simulation physique et de mesure de densité spectrale de puissance de bruit basse fréquence. Grâce à ces mesures, nous avons pu extraire les sources de bruit internes locales commandées et non commandées. Cette extraction nous a permis de calculer les énergies d’activations, les sections de capture et de valider la simulation physique. / This work presents the development of a thermal test bench for I(V) characteristics, for low frequency impedance and for low frequency noise of semiconductor components. This thermal bench for low frequency noise measurement is composed of a low-noise voltage amplifier, a low-noise transimpedance amplifier, an FFT vector signal analyzer and a thermal chuck. This measurement bench has allowed to extract the current noise sources equivalent to the access transistor at different current densities and at different temperatures. In order to calculate the activation energy and the capture cross section of traps thanks to the localization of the cutoff frequency of GR noise in HBT InGaP / GaAs technology. Secondly, we studied the low frequency noise in the transistor InGaP / GaAs and the differents junctions: emitter base, collector base and the base represented by the TLM resistance using physical simulations and measurements of low-frequency noise power spectrum density. Using this measurements, we extract the controlled and not controlled local internal noise sources. The extraction has allowed us to calculate the activation energy, the capture cross sections and validate the physical simulation.

Les structures en forme de tige sont omniprésentes dans le monde aujourd'hui. Désormais, prédire avec précision leur comportement pour l'ingénierie et les environnements virtuels est indispensable pour de nombreuses industries, notamment l'infographie, l'animation par ordinateur et la conception informatique. Dans ce mémoire, nous explorons un nouveau modèle de calcul pour les tiges élastiques qui exploite les données de simulation pour reproduire les effets de coque et de solide présents dans les tiges qui brisent les hypothèses de la théorie classique de la tige de Kirchhoff, présentant ainsi une voie d'amélioration possible pour de nombreux états de l'art techniques. Notre approche consiste à prendre un ensemble de données de simulations à partir de solides volumétriques ou de coques pour former un nouveau modèle d'énergie définie positive polynomiale d'ordre élevé pour une tige élastique. Cette nouvelle énergie élargit la gamme des comportements des matériaux qui peuvent être modélisés pour la tige, permettant ainsi de capturer une plus large gamme de phénomènes. Afin de proposer et tester ce modèle, nous concevons un pipeline expérimental pour tester les limites de la théorie linéaire des tiges et étudier les géométries d'interface entre les cas coque à tige et volume à coque pour observer les effets d'un modèle de matériau non linéaire et une section transversale non elliptique dans la déformation de la tige. Nous étudions également la relation entre la courbure de la tige et la déformation de la section transversale et la courbure pour introduire une modification sur le terme de flexion de l'énergie. Cela nous permet de reproduire à la fois le comportement de flexion asymétrique présent dans les poutres volumétriques minces et les poutres à coque avec des sections transversales non convexes. Des suggestions pour de nouvelles améliorations des modèles et des techniques expérimentales sont également données. / Rod-like structures are ubiquitous in the world today. Henceforth accurately predicting their behavior for engineering and virtual environments are indispensable for many industries including computer graphics, computer animation, and computational design. In this thesis we explore a new computational model for elastic rods that leverages simulation data to reproduce shell and solid-like effects present in rods that break the assumptions of the classical Kirchhoff rod theory, thus presenting a possible improvement avenue to many states-of-the-art techniques. Our approach consists of taking a data set of simulations from both volumetric solids or shells to train a novel high-order polynomial positive-definite energy model for an elastic rod. This new energy increases the range of material behaviors that can be modeled for the rod, thus allowing for a larger range of phenomena to be captured. In order to propose and test this model, we design an experimental pipeline to test the limits of the linear theory of rods and investigate the interface geometries between the Shell-Rod and Volume-Shell cases to observe the effects of a nonlinear material model and a non-elliptical cross-section in the rod deformation. We also investigate the relation between rod curvature and deformation of the cross-section and curvature to introduce a modification on the bending term of the energy. This allows us to reproduce both the asymmetric bending behavior present in thin volumetric solid and shell beams with non-convex cross-sections. Suggestions for further improvements in models and experimental techniques are also given.