3D printable materials for RF devices need improvement in order to satisfy the demand for higher frequency and lower loss performance. Characterization of materials that have shown improvements of conductor conductivity have been performed. By using a laser machining technique the loss of a 3D printed 2.45 GHz microstrip Square Open Loop Resonator (SOLR) bandpass filter has been shown to improve by 2.1dB, along with an increase in bandwidth from 10% to 12.7% when compared to a SOLR filter that has not been laser machined. Both laser machined and microwaved silver inks have been mapped for conductivity using a Near Field Microwave Microscope (NFMM) and have shown improvement of conductivity compared to inks that have been cured using standard methods.

Une recherche bibliographique a permis de faire un état de l'art, d'une part des différents principespermettant de détecter le givre et d'autre part de l'application de matériaux magnétostrictifs à la mesure defaibles masses. La faisabilité et l’applicabilité de certains alliages amorphes et nanocristallins à la réalisationde capteurs de givre ont été démontrées.Suite à cet état de l'art, le principe de détection par résonateur magnétostrictif qui a été retenu, a faitl'objet d'une étude approfondie aboutissant à l'établissement d'un nouveau modèle analytique complet desrésonateurs magnétostrictifs sous forme de ruban. L'intérêt principal de ce modèle est la prise en compte depertes mécaniques et l'expression finale contenant la fonction de transfert complète entre les entrées et sortiesélectriques. Ainsi, la réponse en fréquence du modèle est vraiment similaire aux réponses expérimentales. Deplus, il apporte une explication aux retournements observés, pour certains harmoniques entre les fréquencesde résonance et d'antirésonance, pour lesquels l’origine n’avait pu être clairement identifiée.La mise en œuvre de ce nouveau modèle pour la caractérisation de rubans amorphes a montré qu'ilest possible de déterminer le coefficient de couplage à partir de la réponse en fréquence ainsi que le moduled'Young ou l'amortissement. On a donc pu tracer pour des rubans de 2605SC et 2826MB les évolutions avecle champ de polarisation des paramètres du résonateur. De l'évolution de ces paramètres, il est possible dereconstruire les courbes de magnétostriction d'un ruban, ce qui constitue actuellement une méthode decaractérisation.La mise en œuvre d'un prototype a permis de détecter du givre et ainsi de confirmer la faisabilité dela détection de givrage par ce moyen, mais les essais préliminaires qui sont très prometteurs n’ont puapporter une réponse quantitative du capteur soumis à un dépôt de givre. Des mesures utilisant des enceintesde givrage contrôlées en température et en hygrométrie constituent une première perspective. Par ailleurs, lesrésultats présentés dans ce manuscrit s’avèrent une bonne base pour la valorisation de ces travaux,notamment pour la réalisation d’un prototype de capteur, son conditionnement et sa mise en œuvre dans devraies conditions de givrage. / A review of literature allowed first to a state of the art of the different routes to detect the ice on theone hand and of the use of magnetostrictive materials to measure small masses. Both the feasibility andapplicability of metglasses and nanocrystalline alloys to frost resonating sensors have been clearlyestablished.The principle of magnetostrictive sensing resonator was developed and a new comprehensiveanalytical model of ribbonshaped magnetostrictive resonators was successfully achieved. The present modelincludes mechanical losses and the final expression contains the complete transfer function between the inputand output powers. Thus, the predicted frequency response of the model fairly fits to the experimental one.In addition, it clearly explains henceforth the reversals of some harmonic frequencies which occur from theresonance and antiresonance phenomena.The implementation of this new model for the characterization of amorphous ribbons showed thusthat it is now possible to well estimate the coupling coefficient from the frequency response and the Young'smodulus or damping. So we could draw developments with the bias field parameters of the resonator for2826MB and 2605SC amorphous ribbons. The evolution of these parameters allows the magnetostrictioncurves to be well established, that consists in a new characterization method.The implementation of a first prototype permits to detect frost, confirming thus the feasibility ofdetecting icing this way, but these promising preliminary tests could not bring quantitative data to model thefrost deposition on a resonating sensor. Measurements using pregnant icing controlled temperature andhumidity are a first perspective. Finally, it is important to emphasize that the present results appear as a goodsupport for the valorization of this study, especially to elaborate of a prototype sensor based onmagnetostrictive ribbons, its packaging and its implementation in in situ icing conditions.

Cells are the smallest living units and together they form all living organisms on earth. The cells are not only the building blocks of all living things, they also possess the most important information about life. A deeper understanding of these units may reveal hidden secrets about difficultly cured diseases, memory and learning, among others. Today’s techniques have problems such as low sensitivity, lethal preparation steps for the cells and overlaps in result spectra. Microfluidics has shown to be a useful tool allowing improved dynamic control, high throughput and sensitivity in nanoliters. The aim with this project is to design a microfluidic system for future integration with photonic sensors. Three different designs were developed, one design with the aim to integrate with photonic sensors and two for cell trapping only. Simulations and analytical calculations were performed to verify the requirements of single cell trapping. Simulation and analytical calculation results consorted, except for the ladder design. Moreover, strength calculations were performed for the sensor, to verify that it could handle the high pressures. A fabrication process was developed and an OSTE polymer was chosen as a suitable material. The transparency of the OSTE for fluorescent signals was studied. Results from the fabrication show proper lithography and molding as well as flow through channels. However, bubbles tend to appear in the channels. A rough surface of the chip appeared to primarily come from defects and filth on mask and mold. Three different connector solutions were tested, but they could not stand the high pressures. The work in this project has taken the development one step closer to the final goal to integrate photonic biosensors with a microfluidic system enabling single cell sensing.

In this thesis a technique that is being used in another area of technology to optimize light reception in a photographic camera was also applied to the dielectric resonator antenna. The technique consisting of the use of thin film to couple the media and camera impedances resulted in a dielectric resonator antenna bandwidth enhancement technique. The bandwidth enhancement technique was found when thin film dielectric layer structure was used to couple the dielectric resonator and its feed mechanism. Remarkable good performance was detected with a coplanar waveguide fed cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna which resulted in an improvement to its fractional bandwidth from 7.41% to 50.85%. Extensive experimental work was undertaken in order to explore the extent offered in bandwidth performance by using thin film dielectric layer structure in the dielectric resonator antenna performance. The experimental tasks were designed in order to investigate the influence of the thin film dielectric layer structure in relation to its size, shape, thickness, position and direction. Experimental results were supported with simulation work with the computer simulation technology microwave studio. The pieces of the material used for undertaking this experimental work were manually handcrafted. Four different dielectric resonator antenna designs were used in order to carry out the experimental work including the coplanar waveguide fed cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna. The other three dielectric resonator antennas were implemented using the same microstrip feed mechanism. Improved performance in bandwidth was achieved for all the designs. Optimization of the incoming signal was observed when a piece of thin film dielectric layer structure was placed in position between the feed mechanism and the dielectric resonator antenna. The optimization was observed as an enhancement in both the return loss level and the bandwidth of work. Different unexpected operational modes from were activated, such modes being called perturbed modes. Two different shapes were used in this project. Cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna (ɛr = 37) from a commercial provider and two novel rectangular dielectric resonator antennas. The novel rectangular dielectric resonator antennas were created with the methodology presented in this thesis. The rectangular dielectric resonator antennas were elaborated with transparent ceramic material (ɛr = 7) and TMM10i (ɛr = 9.8) from the Rogers Corporation company. The bandwidth enhancement technique was tested in novel embedded dielectric resonator antennas. A coplanar waveguide fed embedded cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna achieved a maximum bandwidth enhancement of 156.77% around f = 3.79 GHz with a thin film dielectric layer structure modified rectangular piece on one edge. Escalation to dielectric resonator antenna design at millimeter wave frequencies was achieved by using thin film dielectric layer structure bandwidth enhancement technique and a handcrafted printed circuit board millimeter wave feed mechanism. The millimeter wave feed mechanisms were achieved using a low cost alternative technique conceived as part of this project. Millimeter wave dielectric resonator antennas were implemented using thin film dielectric layers structure. The antennas deliver an adequate performance in bandwidth. The work presented in this thesis demonstrates dielectric resonator antenna simpler geometry, simple couple schemes, small size, low profile, light weight, and ease of excitation and orientation. Other parameters have also been investigated covering reduced complexity, high degree of flexibility, ease of fabrication and the use of low cost technology to escalate to millimeter wave frequencies.

Radio Frequency (RF) filters are among the key components of today’s multifunctional devices and test equipment. However, the multifuctionality need significantly drives the required filter number and causes large areas to be allocated for filters. To alleviate this issue, over the recent years, reconfigurable filters have been proposed as an attractive alternative. Nevertheless, existing reconfigurable filter technologies demonstrate degraded performances in terms of loss, frequency tunability bandwidth, and power handling capability. This work investigates, for the first time, microfluidic based reconfiguration techniques for implementation of RF bandpass filters. Specifically, microfluidics is shown to provide mechanisms for achieving compact RF bandpass filters that can exhibit low loss, high power handling, and high frequency tunability. First, we present the utilization of liquid metals for realization of a frequency-agile microstrip bandpass filters consisting of broadside coupled split ring resonator (BC-SRR). In this design approach, one of the loops of the BC-SRR is realized from liquid metal to be able to microfluidically change the resonator shape and associated resonance frequency. The filter exhibits a 29% frequency tunable range from 870 MHz to 650 MHz, with insertion loss <3 >dB, over the entire frequency tuning range, for a fractional bandwidth (FBW) of 5%. To the best of our knowledge, this filter design is the first in available literature that shows a continuously frequency reconfigurable microfluidic RF band-pass filter. To overcome the oxidization and lower conductivity issues associated with liquid metals and enhance the frequency tuning range further, subsequently, we introduce a filter design technique in which microfluidically repositionable metallized plates are utilized within microfluidic channels with ultra-thin insulator walls. Specifically, this technique is employed to design a two pole microstrip bandpass filter where microfluidically repositionable metalized plates are used to capacitively load printed open loop resonators. To operate the filter (and control movement of multiple metalized plates) with a single bi-directional micropump unit, a strategically designed meandered microfluidic channel is implemented. The filter exhibits a 50% tuning range (from 1.5 GHz to 0.9 GHz), with an insertion loss15 W input power without the need of thick ground planes and/or heat sinks.

Silicon photonics is a very promising technology for future low-cost high-bandwidth optical telecommunication applications down to the chip level. This is due to the high degree of integration, high optical bandwidth and large speed coupled with the development of a wide range of integrated optical functions. Silicon-based microring resonators are a key building block that can be used to realize many optical functions such as switching, multiplexing, demultiplaxing and detection of optical wave. The ability to tune the resonances of the microring resonators is highly desirable in many of their applications. In this work, the study and application of a thermally wavelength-tunable photonic switch based on silicon microring resonator is presented. Devices with 10µm diameter were systematically studied and used in the design. Its resonance wavelength was tuned by thermally induced refractive index change using a designed local micro-heater. While thermo-optic tuning has moderate speed compared with electro-optic and all-optic tuning, with silicon’s high thermo-optic coefficient, a much wider wavelength tunable range can be realized. The device design was verified and optimized by optical and thermal simulations. The fabrication and characterization of the device was also implemented. The microring resonator has a measured FSR of ~18 nm, FWHM in the range 0.1-0.2 nm and Q around 10,000. A wide tunable range (>6.4 nm) was achieved with the switch, which enables dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) with a channel space of 0.2nm. The time response of the switch was tested on the order of 10 us with a low power consumption of ~11.9mW/nm. The measured results are in agreement with the simulations. Important applications using the tunable photonic switch were demonstrated in this work. 1×4 and 4×4 reconfigurable photonic switch were implemented by using multiple switches with a common bus waveguide. The results suggest the feasibility of on-chip DWDM for the development of large-scale integrated photonics. Using the tunable switch for output wavelength control, a fiber laser was demonstrated with Erbium-doped fiber amplifier as the gain media. For the first time, this approach integrated on-chip silicon photonic wavelength control.

<p>Kerr frequency comb, a sequence of equally spaced sharp lines in frequency domain generated via four-wave mixing process, has multiple applications such as spectroscopy, metrology, and atomic clocks. Conventional frequency combs generated from mode-locked laser have the limitations of low repetition rate and large volume. One novel platform, silicon nitride (SiN) microring resonator (MRR), can overcome such disadvantages. The SiN MRR is a low loss waveguide resonator and has good reliability and capacity for on-chip integration, which enables a portable solution for Kerr frequency comb.</p><p>This thesis focuses on the design and characterization of the SiN MRR to optimize the important performance characteristics for the applications.<br></p><p>In Kerr comb applications, phase coherence between the comb lines is required to eliminate unwanted signals in the systems. Therefore, the investigation of the coherent state in MRR based comb generation can benefit the development of comb generation techniques. In particular, dark pulses exhibit much higher comb conversion efficiency than the single soliton combs.<br></p><p>The tunability of Kerr comb is another important performance characteristic of the applications, which is useful for multiple applications, such as matching the comb line spacing to the wavelength multiplexing grid for coherent communication or aligning the on-chip laser wavelength and MRR resonance frequency during the integration. The theoretic analysis of thermal tuning and experimental characterization of resonance frequency tuning via an on-chip microheater are performed in this thesis to explore the thermal tuning efficiency and its limitation.<br></p><p>Another important performance characteristics of the frequency comb is the comb bandwidth. Large bandwidth comb will be beneficial for application like dual comb spectroscopy. In addition, octave-spanning Kerr comb is desired due to its capacity of f-2f self-referencing for comb line frequencies stabilization for the applications like atomic clocks. To demonstrate on-chip octave-spanning Kerr soliton, the dispersion engineering is utilized in the device design to optimize the pump dispersion and dispersive wave generation simultaneously. The octave-spanning solitons are achieved on SiN MRRs with around 900 GHz repetition rate.<br></p><p>Finally, two optical division approaches are demonstrated to read out the large repetition rate of the octave-spanning soliton on all-SiN platform with auxiliary combs to enable the locking of undetectable repetition rate with less complexity in the fabrication and integration. The first approach uses a 25 GHz soliton; whose repetition rate is directly detectable via a photodiode. The second approach employs a Vernier scheme with an 880 GHz soliton to provide an alternative optical division scheme with lower requirements in fabrication ultrahigh Q MRRs. The divided repetition rate can be locked to enable the fully stabilization of frequency comb to provide an on-chip high stability and low noise frequency comb source.<br></p><p></p>

Efficient oil production and refining processes require the precise measurement of water content in oil (i.e., water-cut) which is extracted out of a production well as a byproduct. Traditional water-cut (WC) laboratory measurements are precise, but are incapable of providing real-time information, while recently reported in-line WC sensors (both in research and industry) are usually incapable of sensing the full WC range (0 – 100 %), are bulky, expensive and non-scalable for the variety of pipe sizes used in the oil industry. This work presents a novel implementation of a planar microwave T-resonator for fully non-intrusive in situ WC sensing over the full range of operation, i.e., 0 – 100 %. As opposed to non-planar resonators, the choice of a planar resonator has enabled its direct implementation on the pipe surface using low cost fabrication methods. WC sensors make use of series resonance introduced by a λ/4 open shunt stub placed in the middle of a microstrip line. The detection mechanism is based on the measurement of the T-resonator’s resonance frequency, which varies with the relative percentage of oil and water (due to the difference in their dielectric properties). In order to implement the planar T-resonator based sensor on the curved surface of the pipe, a novel approach of utilizing two ground planes is proposed in this work. The innovative use of dual ground planes makes this sensor scalable to a wide range of pipe sizes present in the oil industry. The design and optimization of this sensor was performed in an electromagnetic Finite Element Method (FEM) solver, i.e., High Frequency Structural Simulator (HFSS) and the dielectric properties of oil, water and their emulsions of different WCs used in the simulation model were measured using a SPEAG-dielectric assessment kit (DAK-12). The simulation results were validated through characterization of fabricated prototypes. Initial rapid prototyping was completed using copper tape, after which a novel reusable 3D-printed mask based fabrication was also successfully implemented, which would resemble screen printing if it were to be implemented in 3D. In order to verify the design’s applicability for the actual scenario of oil wells, where an oil/water mixture is flowing through the pipes, a basic flow loop was constructed in the IMPACT laboratory at KAUST. The dynamic measurements in the flow loop showed that the WC sensor design is also equally applicable for flowing mixtures. The proposed design is capable of sensing the WC with a fine resolution due to its wide sensing range, in the 80 – 190 MHz frequency band. The experimental results for these low cost and conformal WC sensors are promising, and further characterization and optimization of these sensors according to oil field conditions will enable their widespread use in the oil industry.

This article describes some methods of measuring complex permitivity in milimeter – wave band, their characteristics, anvatages and disadvantages. Discused are here the reasons for their use in the construction of work place. On the basis these reasons is chosen the best method for practical measurement. That is cavity resonant method. Article contain description of designed measurement system. Whitch is verified by computer simulating of developed model in HFSS Ansoft. Text contain also result of simulations and execute computing of comlex permittivity and tangent loss. In Conclusion is desribed results of practical permittivity measure with realized measurement system.

Le marché des capteurs de pression pour le secteur aéronautique est mature mais encore en forte croissance, caractérisé par une forte valeur ajoutée, et générateur d'une forte demande en innovation. Par exemple, le rapprochement des systèmes de mesure vers les zones chaudes de l'avion nécessite de revoir l'architecture du capteur, dont l'élément sensible.Pour répondre à ces besoins, nous avons développé un capteur de pression intégrant une détection du mouvement d'un microrésonateur sur membrane avec des nanofils en silicium piezorésistifs. Une version simplifiée de microrésonateur sans ces nanojauges de déformation a été conçue, modélisée, fabriquée puis caractérisée afin d'en valider le bon fonctionnement. En parallèle, les caractéristiques électro-thermo-mécaniques et de bruit de nanojauges couplées à des résonateurs M&NEMS issus de précédents travaux ont été étudiées. Nous avons ainsi montré qu'un nanofil en compression harmonique longitudinale à basse fréquence se comporte comme un ressort-amorti pouvant dominer la réponse harmonique du résonateur MEMS, malgré ses dimensions minuscules. De plus, nous avons montré pour la première fois que la réponse harmonique d'un résonateur pouvait être ajustée « in-situ » à l'aide du phénomène de rétro-action pieozorésistive en modifiant uniquement la polarisation des nanofils. Enfin, les performances théoriques du capteur de pression ont été estimées à partir de données expérimentales relevées sur différents types de résonateurs M&NEMS. Ces performances théoriques sont satisfaisantes vis-à-vis des spécifications du capteur, mais nécessiteront néanmoins d'être validées expérimentalement. / The market of pressure sensors for aeronautics is mature but still strongly growing, defined by a strong added value and a large innovation need. Bringing pressure sensors closer to hot parts of the plane, requires, for example, to re-consider the sensor architecture, including the sensitive element.In order to comply with these requirements, we have developed a resonant pressure sensor with motion detection by Si piezoresistive nanowires. A simplified version of the resonator without these nanogauges has been modelled, fabricated and characterized to confirm its good operation. In parallel, electro-thermo-mechanical and noise characteristics of nanogauges coupled to M&NEMS resonators arising from previous works have been studied. We have notably demonstrated that the damped-spring behavior of an harmonically longitudinally stressed nanowire at low frequency could govern the MEMS resonator response, despite its tiny dimensions. Moreover, we have shown for the first time that the resonator response could be tuned “in situ” owing to the piezoresistive back action phenomenon only by acting on the nanowire biasing.Eventually, the theoretical performances of the resonant pressure sensor have been estimated from experimental data on different kind of M&NEMS resonator. These theoretical performances satisfy the sensor specifications; nevertheless they need to be confirmed experimentally.