The prospect of producing nanometer channel-length thin film transistors (TFTs) for active matrix addressed pixelated arrays opens up new high-performance applications in which the most amenable device topology is the vertical thin film transistor (VTFT) in view of its small area. The previous attempts at fabricating VTFTs have yielded devices with a high drain leakage current, a low ON/OFF current ratio, and no saturation behaviour in the output current at high drain voltages, all induced by short channel effects. To overcome these adversities, particularly dominant as the channel length approaches the nano-scale regime, the reduction of the gate dielectric thickness is essential. However, the problems with scaling the gate dielectric thickness are the high gate leakage current and early dielectric breakdown of the insulator, deteriorating the device performance and reliability. A novel ultra-thin SiNx film suitable for the application as the gate dielectric of short channel TFTs and VTFTs is developed. The deposition is performed in a standard 13.56MHz PECVD system with silane and ammonia precursor gasses diluted in nitrogen. The deposited 50nm SiNx films demonstrate excellent electrical characteristics in terms of a leakage current of 0.1 nA/cm?? and a breakdown electric field of 5.6MV/cm. Subsequently, the state of the art performances of 0.5??m channel length VTFTs with 50 and 30nm thick SiNx gate dielectrics are presented in this thesis. The transistors exhibit ON/OFF current ratios over 10^9, the subthreshold slopes as sharp as 0.23 V/dec, and leakage currents in the fA range. More significantly, a high associated yield is obtained for the fabrication of these devices on 3-inch rigid substrates. Finally, to illustrate the tremendous potential of the VTFT for the large area electronics, a 2.2-inch QVGA AMOLD display with in-pixel VTFT-based driver circuits is designed and fabricated. An outstanding value of 56% compared to the 30% produced by conventional technology is achieved as the aperture ratio of the display. Moreover, the initial measurement results reveal an excellent uniformity of the circuit elements.

This thesis investigates the laminar flame speed of C₁-C₃ alkanes and their binary mixtures at conditions of interest in natural gas based gas turbines viz. high temperature, pressure and dilution. Laminar flame speed has been found useful not only for validating chemical kinetics mechanisms but also for developing empirical scaling laws for practical combustion systems. The thesis addresses the lack of laminar flame speed data of C₁-C₃ alkanes at preheat (300-650 K), pressure (1-10 atm) and significant oxidizer dilution (15-21 vol% O₂). Over 400 measurements are reported over a wide range of conditions along with comparison to predictions from leading chemical mechanisms. Unstretched flame speed measurements were performed using a modified Bunsen flame technique based on reaction zone area from chemiluminescence imaging, whereas the strain sensitivity measurements were performed using a bluff-body stabilized stagnation flame with high resolution PIV. These measurements are used to: (i) discern the uncertainties associated with the measurements, (ii) understand the effect of fuel mixture and vitiation on flame speed, and (iii) validate the performance of the leading chemical kinetics mechanisms. Extensive testing shows the unstretched flame speed measurements from the modified Bunsen technique are reasonably accurate. Vitiation studies for methane and propane flames at high preheat show the reduction in flame speed results primarily from the thermal effect of the diluent and that the relative change in flame speed from the undiluted mixture is well correlated to the fractional change in the adiabatic flame temperature over a range of conditions. Significant difference in the measured and predicted flame speeds were observed for rich, atmospheric pressure, propane and lean, high pressure, methane/ethane mixtures with dilution. This highlights possible avenues for improvements in the chemical kinetics mechanisms. Systematic errors were also identified in the Bunsen flame measurements at certain conditions, such as for rich flames with dilution, indicating a need for better understanding of the Bunsen flame technique at these conditions. The difference in the measured and predicted flame speed does not show any clear correlation with the flame height or the strain sensitivity of the mixture. Finally previously proposed mixing rules for estimating flame speed of fuel mixtures from pure fuel components are shown to be reasonably accurate over a range of pressure, reactant temperature and dilution conditions.