This thesis, addresses some aspects of the well-known, problem, experienced by designer of radio frequency power amplifiers (RFPA): the efficiency/linearity trade-off. The thesis is focused on finding and documenting solution to linearity problem than can be used to advance the performance of radio frequency (RF) and microwave systems used by the wireless communication industry. The research work, this was undertaken by performing a detailed investigation of the behaviour of transistors, under complex modulation, when subjected to time varying baseband signals at their output terminal: This is what in this thesis will be referred to as “baseband injection”. To undertake this study a new approach to the characterisation of non-linear devices (NLD) in the radio frequency (RF) region, such as transistors, designated as device-under-test (DUT), subjected to time varying baseband signals at its output terminal, was implemented. The study was focused on transistors that are used in implementing RF power amplifiers (RFPA) for base station applications. The nonlinear device under test (NL-DUT) is a generalisation to include transistors and other nonlinear devices under test. Throughout this thesis, transistors will be referred to as ‘device’ or ‘radio frequency power amplifier (RFPA) device’. During baseband injection investigations the device is perturbed by multi-tone modulated RF signals of different complexities. The wireless communication industry is very familiar with these kinds of devices and signals. Also familiar to the industry are the effects that arise when these kind of signal perturb these devices, such as inter-modulation distortion and linearity, power consumption/dissipation and efficiency, spectral re-growth and spectral efficiency, memory effects and trapping effects. While the concept of using baseband injection to linearize RFPAs is not new the mathematical framework introduced and applied in this work is novel. This novel approach NOVEL POWER AMPLIFIER DESIGN USING NON-LINEAR MICROWAVE CHARACTERISATION AND MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES CARDIFF UNIVERISTY - UK ABSTRACT vi has provided new insight to this very complex problem and highlighted solutions to how it could be a usable technique in practical amplifiers. In this thesis a very rigorous and complex investigative mathematical and measurement analysis on RFPA response to applied complex stimulus in a special domain called the envelope domain was conducted. A novel generic formulation that can ‘engineer’ signal waveforms by using special control keys with which to provide solution to some of the problems highlighted above is presented. The formulation is based on specific background principles, identified from the result of both mathematical theoretical analysis and detailed experimental device characterisation.

Composite strengthening was attempted to improve the mechanical strength and toughness of the brittle near equiatomic Fe-Co alloy. The matrix alloy chosen for this research falls in the Fe-(30-50) Co group, which are known for their highest saturation induction (B-sat) and Curie temperature among the commercial soft magnetic alloys. The reinforcements, which exhibited a wide range of aspect ratios, included SiC particulates, SiC whiskers and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). In order to minimize the interfacial reaction between the reinforcements and the Fe-50Co alloy (matrix) and to realise higher compact density, spark plasma sintering (SPS) was selected for rapid compaction of materials. Reinforcements were coated using electroless deposition with Ni-P, copper and cobalt to modify the interfacial chemistry and thickness, and hence the final properties of the composites. A comprehensive study on the sintering variables found, within the range of examination and under constant heating and cooling rates, the optimum maximum temperature, soaking time and mechanical pressure of 900oC, 2-5 minutes and 80 MPa to rapidly consolidate the Fe- 50Co alloy to near-theoretical density. The volume fraction and size of the ordered regions in the monolithic alloy and hence the magnetic properties, were sensitive to the heating rate, cooling rate, temperature at which the mechanical pressure was applied and removed and post heat treatments. The influence of reinforcement coatings on the wetting characteristics, and in turn the properties, was compared using SiC particulate Fe-50Co composites. The introduction of bare and coarse (20 μm) SiC particulates negatively affected both magnetic and mechanical properties. Electroless Co coating of particulates improved both the flexural properties and magnetic characteristics such as permeability and coercivity by promoting the formation of narrower interfaces and better bonding. The addition of bare and coated whiskers in Fe-Co alloys enhanced densification and grain growth of the matrix. Copper coating over whiskers was found to be not helpful in realising uniform dispersion, whereas Co and Ni-P coating aided to achieve uniform dispersion of whiskers in the matrix. The amorphous Ni-P coating on whiskers was nanocrystallised during the rapid sintering process and resulted in a material with highly improved mechanical strength and ductility in comparison to the monolithic and other whisker reinforced composite materials. A novel attempt to prepare bulk Fe based alloy composites reinforced with CNTs was also undertaken. Both soft magnetic and mechanical property enhancements were observed in composites with lower vol% of CNTs (i.e. < 1.5%, in the range of examination up to 10%) due to the improvement of compact density by CNTs. An increase in the CNT vol% produced a negative effect on saturation induction and mechanical properties due to the agglomeration of CNTs and reduction in compact density. SPS helped to retain the structural integrity of CNTs during processing. Electroless Ni-P coating over the CNTs helped to reduce the structural damage of CNTs during processing and to improve the mechanical strength and ductility at a marginal cost of saturation induction, in comparison to the monolithic compacts and bare CNT reinforced composites. To date accurate temperature assessment of the compact in the SPS die has been difficult due to the remote position of the pyrometer within the body of the die. It has been found that the ferromagnetic Curie transition can be successfully employed to calibrate SPS pyrometer during processing.

This thesis is primarily concerned with experimental tests and computer simulations to determine the high frequency and transient performance of earth electrode systems. The work has involved an extensive review of published literature, theoretical and analytical investigations of earth electrode systems. The experimental investigations on earth electrodes were carried out an outdoor site prior to electrode testing the test site soil resistivity were undertaken. Specifically, the soil resistivity was obtained at the location of the vertical test rod. In order to obtain better understanding of the soil stratification, fourteen profiles of soil resistivity were measured at the field site. From the measurements 2D soil models were constructed to visualise both horizontal and vertical resistivity variation. High frequency and impulse characteristics of vertical test rods up to 6m length and horizontal electrodes up to 88m buried in a non-uniform soil outdoor test site were tested. DC, AC and impulse test results show that increasing the length of electrode reduces the earthing resistance but not impedance. It was shown that, the earth resistance/impedance is constant over a low frequency range, while higher or lower impedance values are observed in the high-frequency range due to inductive or capacitive effects, depending on the length of earth electrode. Improved high- frequency and transient response of earth rods was determined experimentally by connecting horizontal electrode enhancements in star or cross formation at the top of vertical rods. Using these additional enhancements, a reduction in both resistance and impedance has been demonstrated. The addition of horizontal enhancements to the vertical rod can reduce the earth potential rise (EPR) by approximately 70% and 48% for 1.2m and 6m rods respectively. Voltage and current distributions of earth electrode systems under low/high frequency and impulse conditions, for different lengths of vertical rods with horizontal electrode enhancements and along a horizontal electrode with and without insulated conductor, were investigated experimentally and verified by computer simulation. In the case of the of the rods with an added ‘4-cross’ horizontal conductor enhancement, it was shown that the rods carry the majority of the current at low frequency, but this proportion decreases significantly as frequency increases The field test results show that current distribution in earth conductor systems is significantly different under high-frequency and impulse energisation compared with power frequency conditions. Close agreement was obtained between the measured and computed current and voltage High voltage tests in the ground around the vertical electrodes were investigated experimentally. It was observed that when a sufficiently high current magnitude is injected through vertical electrodes, a significant reduction in the impulse resistance by increase in current with a sudden fall of voltage is observed which is called soil ionisation. Such phenomenon does not occur when the vertical electrodes with horizontal enhancements is tested, where the current through all earth electrodes is small.

The evolution of high power transistors has ultimately increased the complexity of their design, interaction and incorporation within microwave frequency power amplifiers. The requirement for high efficiency and high linearity for a wide band frequency by the consumer has put pressure on designers. Due to unexpected and unpredictable failures, device characterisation of the transistor in operational conditions is a highly valuable advantage. The proposed work will describe a non-intrusive, ultra-miniaturised, high resolution electric field probe system; with the capability of measuring relative voltage and waveforms distribution of complex active devices within their operating conditions. The design, construction and evolution of the probing system will be described displaying a resolution of better than 100μm, with a flat frequency response of up to 8GHz. Due to the miniaturised size and the flexibility in positioning, the probe has the ability to measure on-chip, at the device plane, across the device periphery. Results will show direct observation of device plane voltages in high power RFPAs, where the device can exhibit variation in the voltage distribution across the periphery. Such variation will be a function of the internal behaviour and not evident in the output characteristics of the device. This work will also describe a novel method for absolute calibration of the probing system which can be implemented with every movement of the measurement plane. Therefore presenting a successful and calibrated EFP system capable of device characterisation and diagnostics.

Cooperative relaying has been proposed as a promising solution to mitigate and combat the deleterious effects of fading by sending and receiving independent copies of the same signal at different nodes. It has attracted huge attention from both industry and academia. The purpose of this thesis is to provide an analytical performance evaluation of the cooperative wireless systems while taking some realistic conditions into consideration. To achieve this, first, performance analysis of amplify-and-forward (AF) relaying using pilot-aided maximum likelihood estimation is studied in this thesis. Both disintegrated channel estimation (DCE) and cascaded channel estimation (CCE) are considered. Based on this analysis, optimal energy allocation is proposed. Then, performance analysis for AF relaying corrupted by interferers are investigated. Both randomly distributed and fixed interferers are considered. For random interferers, both the number and the locations of the interferers are random while for fixed interferers, both the number and the locations are fixed. Next, multihop relaying and multiple scattering channels over α - μ fading are analyzed. Channels with interferences and without interferences are considered. Exact results in the form of one-dimensional integral are derived. Also, approximate results with simplified structure and closed-form expressions are provided. Finally, a new hard decision fusion rule that combines arbitrary numbers of bits for different samples taken at different nodes is proposed. The best thresholds for the fusion rules using 2 bits, 3 bits and 4 bits are obtained through simulation. The bit error rate (BER) for hard fusion rule with 1 bit is provided. Numerical results are presented to show the accuracy of our analysis and provide insights. First, they show that our optimal energy allocation methods outperform the conventional system without optimal energy allocation, which could be as large as several dB’s in some cases. Second, with the increase of signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) for AF relaying with interference, the outage probability decreases accordingly for both random and fixed interferers. However, with the change of interference-to-noise ratio (INR) but with the SINR fixed, the outage probability for random interferers change correspondingly while the outage probability for fixed interferers remains almost the same. Third, our newly derived approximate expressions are shown to have acceptable performances in approximating outage probability in wireless multihop relaying system and multiple scattering channel considering interferences and without interferences. Last, our new hard decision fusion rule is shown to achieve better performance with higher energy efficiency. Also they show that there is a tradeoff between performance and energy penalty in the hard decision fusion rule.

This thesis provides an in-depth investigation and evaluation of infrared optical wireless MIMO communication systems to be applied in both indoor and outdoor environment. The principle objective of the research is to demonstrate both the advantages and disadvantages of the optical wireless MIMO systems using different modulation types. The first part provided analyses of important OW configurations using APD receivers using WMC model and SISO, MISO, SIMO and MIMO configuration. Thus, an analytical expression for 2-1 MISO, 1-2 SIMO and MIMO was successfully developed. This part also illustrates the coding gains possible using diversity schemes for APD OW systems. In the presence of strong fading, the SISO approach is rendered virtually useless, whereas diversity offers acceptable BER values. The results underpin the approach of this thesis, where indoor PIN diode based experimental measurements confirm the gains offered by diversity. In the second part of the work, several optical wireless MIMO systems applicable for the indoor environment are developed for three different modulation types, OOK modulation, PPM modulation and SIR-RZI modulation. These modulations are used in optical MIMO systems are studied for which, mathematical models that evaluate the BER performance of the MIMO system for different axis displacement and for different distances between transmitters and receivers. Based on the results, the PPM system has been shown to present the best BER performance, including high interference-resistance capability. A group of new mathematical models have been evaluated, which demonstrates a high level of correlation with the results derived from empirical models at 93%. Thus, the mathematical models developed and used for the specified evaluation appear to correspond reasonably well, and can be applied in future research on these aspects.

Despite the excellent electrical and thermal properties of 4H-silicon carbide (SiC), the fabrication of high-voltage SiC power devices is still proving problematic, being hindered by material defects resulting in low carrier lifetimes and forward voltage drift, and suboptimum ohmic contacts to p-type material. The PiN diode is one such device that suffers from the aforementioned problems, though at the same time is sought after for high voltage power electronics applications due to the prospect of greatly reduced power losses and increased power handling capability than the Si devices currently in use. As such, this thesis is focussed on the development of these devices, investigating various device structures to achieve high reverse blocking voltages as well as developing novel fabrication processes to improve the electrical performance of the devices. Electrical characterisation of ohmic contacts to p-type 4H-SiC showed that Ti/Al-based metal schemes offered the lowest specific contact resistivity of approximately 2.2 x 10-6 Ω-cm2, which was achieved after annealing at 1000°C for 2 minutes. Physical analysis showed that these annealing conditions were optimum for formation of the Ti3SiC2 alloy at the metal-semiconductor interface, the presence of which was found to correlate with lower specific contact resistivity values. Electrical characterisation of first generation PiN diodes designed for blocking 3.3 kV showed that the fabricated devices had a differential on-resistance (Ron,dif f) of 17 Ωm -cm2 at 100 A/cm2 and 25°C, and near-ideal (η = 1.3) characteristics in the diffusion current regime. Based on the measured reverse saturation currents, the carrier lifetime of the fabricated devices was estimated to be 480 ns. Reverse leakage currents were found to vary significantly across the devices, from 5 nA/cm2 up to 200 μA/cm2 at 100 V reverse bias and 25°C. Second generation 3.3 kV PiN diodes, which featured a B-implanted JTE structure, were found to block a maximum reverse voltage of 2.8 kV, which was around 85% of the target value. PiN diodes fabricated with a drift region designed for blocking 10 kV underwent thermal oxidation processes at temperatures ranging from 1400°C to 1600°C in order to increase the carrier lifetime. Devices having undergone no lifetime enhancement treatment were found to have a Ron,dif f of 11.6 mΩ-cm2 at 100 A/cm2 and 25°C, and an ideality factor η = 1.5 in the diffusion current regime. PiN diodes that had undergone thermal oxidation were found to have improved forward characteristics, with devices oxidised at 1500°C exhibiting a Ron,dif f of around 9 mΩ-cm2 at 100 A/cm2 and 25°C, an improvement of nearly 25%. A novel combined thermal oxidation and annealing process was developed and applied to second generation 10 kV PiN diodes; a mean Ron,dif f of 4.45 mΩ-cm2 was achieved, and a carrier lifetime of 1.21 μs was extracted from reverse recovery characteristics; these were both significant improvements on both the second generation control sample and the first generation thermally oxidised PiN diodes.

In a bid to cope with challenges of increasing demand for higher data rate, better quality of service, and higher network capacity, there is a migration from Single Input Single Output (SISO) antenna technology to a more promising Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna technology. On the other hand, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technique has emerged as a very popular multi-carrier modulation technique, thus it is considered as a promising solution to enhance the data rate of future broadband wireless communication systems. The first contribution of this thesis is the development of a low complexity adaptive algorithm that is robust against slow and fast fading channel scenarios, in comparison to the conventional individual parameter estimation by E. Teletar in his famous paper of 1999. Implementing the Adaptive MMSE Receivers in MIMO OFDM systems which I refer to (AMUD MIMO OFDM), combines the adaptive minimum mean square error multiuser receiver's scheme with prior information of the channel and interference cancelation in the spatial domain, achieves enhanced joint channel estimation and signal detection which makes the new technique effectively mobile. A mathematical analysis and simulation results to estimate the Information Capacity of Mobile Communication system with MMSE DFE and OFDM receivers were investigated. The capacity of a stationary channel with ISI is achievable by both the single carrier MMSE DFE and multicarrier modulation over narrow sub channels with OFDM receivers. The achieved capacity result shows that in both techniques single carrier and multicarrier, apart from different implementations are essentially identical when it comes to achievable criteria for information channel capacity. Lastly, AMUD MIMO OFDM were compared with both adaptive vector pre-coding and iterative system and their performance were fantastic, results shows that it will assure transmission over a high channel capacity.

At high-temperature operations of electronic control devices, Tin-Silver-Copper (SnAgCu) alloy solder joints used to assemble the component of the devices are functioning at homologous temperature above 0.8. In such ambient temperatures, solder alloys have limited mechanical strength and will be sensitive to strain rate. The sensitivity of solder properties to creep/visco-plastic deformation increases the rate of accumulation of plastic damage in the alloy and decreases the number of cycles to failure (Nf) of the joints. Most untimely rupture of solder joints in high-temperature electronics (HTE) system usually culminates in colossal loss of resources and lives. Typical incidences are reported in recent automotive and aircraft crashes as well as the collapse of oil-well logging equipment. To increase the mean time to failure (MTTF) of solder joints in HTE, an in-depth understanding and accurate prediction of the response of solder joints to thermally induced plastic strain damage is crucial. This study concerns the prediction of the reliability of lead-free solder joints in a flip chip (FC) model FC48D6.3C457 which is mounted on a substrate and the assembly subjected to high-temperature excursions. The research investigates the effect of the high-temperature operations on reliability of the joints. In addition, the investigation examines the impact of control factors (component stand-off height (CSH), inter-metallic compound (IMC) thickness, number of thermal cycle and solder volume) on Nf of the joints. A model developed in the course of this investigation was employed to create the assembly solder joints architecture. The development of the model and creation of the bump profile involve a combination of both analytical and construction methods. The assembled package on a printed circuit board (PCB) was subjected to accelerated temperature cycle (ATC) employing IEC standard 60749-25 in parts. The cycled temperature range is between -38 oC and 157 oC. Deformation behaviour of SnAgCu alloy solder in the joints is captured using Anand’s visco-plasticity model and the response of other materials in the assembly were simulated with appropriate model.

Solder joints play a very important role in electronic products as the integrity of electronics packaging and assembly rests on the quality of these connections. The increasing demands for higher performance, lower cost, and miniaturisation in hand-held and consumer electronic products have led to the use of dense interconnections. This miniaturization trend means that solder joint reliability remains an important challenge with surface mount electronics assembly, especially those used in hostile environments, and applications such as automobile, aerospace and other safety critical operations. One of the most important factors which are known to affect solder joint reliability is the thickness of intermetallic compound (IMC) layer formed between the solder and the substrate. Although the formation of an IMC layer signifies good bonding between the solder and substrate, its main disadvantage is that it is also known to be the most brittle part of the solder joint. Thus as the miniaturisation trend continues, and solder joints become even smaller in size, the nature and impact of IMC layer thickness on solder joint reliability becomes even more of a concern with the introduction of new lead-free soldering. Other factors which are known to affect solder joint reliability include the bonding strength, the voiding percentage in joints, the size of the voids and their location within the joint. The work reported in this thesis on formation and growth of intermetallic compound layer, and evaluation of the shear strength of lead-free solder joints is divided into four main parts. The first part of the study is concerned with understanding of the effect of pad sizes on Inter-metallic compound layer formation and growth for lead-free solder joints. The second part concerns the study of the effect of temperature cycling and reflow profiles on intermetallic growth between Sn-Ag-Cu alloy and Cu substrate. The third part of the study concerns the investigation of the effect of reflow soldering profile optimization on solder volumes using design of experiment technique. The focus of the final part of the study is the investigation of the effect of Inter-metallic Compound thickness on shear strength of 1206 surface mount chip resistor. The results from the experimental work showed that the pad size has very little influence on the growth of the IMC. The result also shows that the growth of IMC depends on diffusion rate, temperature and time according to the power-law model; and that the IMC layer thickness is independent of pad size. The significance of this result is that with further reductions in joint size (with IMC layer thickness remaining the same), the ratio of the IMC layer thickness to solder joint size will increase and adversely impact the joint reliability. The work carried out on ageing temperatures and reflow profiles of Sn-Ag-Cu alloy and Cu substrate also showed the reaction-diffusion mechanism of intermetallic compound formation and growth in solder joints. The study also showed that the most significant factor in achieving lower IMC layer thickness and fine microstructures is the time to peak temperature of the reflow soldering process. The effect of IMC layer thickness on the shear strength of Sn-Ag-Cu solder joints was investigated. The relationship of shear strength, interfacial microstructures and fracture surfaces was considered. It is clear that formation of continuous Cu-Sn and SnNiCu layers are the reason for the weak interface strength. The results show that the shear strength of solder joints decreases with increasing ageing time. The results of this study have been disseminated through journal and conference publications and will be of interest to R&D personnel working in the area of high temperature electronics and in particular those working in the field of automotive electronics.