This thesis presents design, modeling, and fabrication of an RF MEMS adjustable impedance matching network. The device employs the basic triple stub matching technique for impedance matching. It has three adjustable length stubs which are implemented using capacitively loaded coplanar waveguides. The capacitive loading of the stubs are realized using the MEMS switches which are evenly distributed over the stubs. There are 40 MEMS bridges on each stub whichare separated with &amp / #955 / /40 spacing making a total of 120 MEMS switches in the structure. The variability of the stub length is accomplished by closing the MEMS switch nearest to the required stub length, and making a virtual short circuit to ground. The device is theoretically capable of doing matching to every point on the Smith chart. The device is built on coplanar waveguide transmission lines. It has a center operating frequency of 10GHz, but because of its adjustability property it is expected to work in 1-40GHz range. It has dimensions of 8950 &times / 5720&micro / m2. This work is the continuation of the first national work on fabrication of RF MEMS devices. The device in this work is fabricated using the surface micromachining technology in the microelectronic facilities of Middle East Technical University.

This research explores the use of insulated electrodes to determine electrical impedance distributions within soil cores. It is used to infer the effect of roots on soil moisture which, in turn, can provide knowledge relating to crop breeding programmes. These programmes are becoming increasingly important in order to address challenges posed by global population growth and climate change. Direct contact electrical impedance measurements in soil are frequently used but these are vulnerable to electrochemical effects and corrosion. Insulated electrodes are used in the present work to overcome these difficulties and a modified electrode model has been proposed. Measurements require the acquisition of spectroscopic complex impedance and extraction of the real impedance to infer soil moisture content. Calculated and simulated impedance, from the analytical solution and an FEM model respectively, were compared to measurements performed within a parallel-plate test cell containing saline solutions. The effects of moisture, compaction and temperature on soil impedance measurements have been explored. Finally, two growth trials using maize plants and control vessels were performed to create 2D images of impedance distributions, from which moisture placement was inferred. Results show that for saline electrolytes, the insulated electrode method was capable of estimating the impedance of tap water to within 10% of calibrated laboratory equipment. For soil based measurements, the variation of moisture content from 5-30% resulted in a 1000-fold decrease in impedance. The change was most significant in drier soils. For compaction based testing, at 5% moisture content soil impedance decreased by approximately 40%, compared to only 20% in the wettest samples. Temperature testing revealed an impedance change of approximately 2%/ °C, in agreement with earlier reports. Plant growth trials revealed increases in electrical impedance due to soil drying from an initial value of 1-2kΩ when the soil was wetted to field capacity, to as much as 60kΩ when dry. Only small changes were evident in the control vessels. It was also found that areas exposed to potential evaporation, such as at the surface closest to the plant stem, suffered significant losses in moisture content, reaching as high as 15-20kΩ. This research utilises a measurement technique which has not previously been used to measure soil impedance to infer moisture content. The research also found that the scaling of a thin layer within an FEM model can significantly reduce computational demands, while retaining accuracy, and allow more complex FEM simulations to be performed on a less powerful computer.

No description available.

A validation study was performed on a capacitively coupled argon discharge to determine the most suitable models for chemistry and electron transport. Chemical reaction rate and electron transport models choices include equilibrium or non-equilibrium electron EDFs. Experimental studies performed by our collaborative partners in the Colorado School of Mines. Conditions for the studies are 138, 315, and 618 mTorr where the cycle averaged power varied at 20, 50, and 80 Watts in which the voltage supply was driven at 13.56 MHz. Simulations were performed using pressures and voltage used in experiments. The most accurate case was for 138 mTorr at 50 Watts using a non-Maxwellian EDF based chemistry (called Bolsig+ chemistry) and a constant electron momentum transfer cross section of 20 Angstroms which was computed from Boeuf’s paper; this model accurately modeled power deposition to within 2.6%. Furthermore, species number densities, electron temperature, and sheath thicknesses are obtained. Using Bolsig+ chemistry resulted in 20,000K higher electron temperatures than using Arrhenius chemistry rates. Results indicate that power deposition occurs due to electrons gaining energy from the sheath which in turn bombard neutral species producing metastable argon. / text

After being theorized by Veselago in 1967, recent developments in metamaterials over the last two decades have allowed scientists and researchers to physically demonstrate that artificial composite media can be engineered to exhibit exotic material properties, such as negative refractive index, by exploiting features in arrays of sub-wavelength unit inclusions. These unconventional electromagnetic properties are realized through the coupling of the microscopic unit inclusions, which govern the macroscopic properties of the structure. After demonstrating that a periodic array of capacitively-loaded loop (CLL) inclusions paired with continuous wire results in negative refraction, this study performs numerical simulations to characterize random metamaterial structures. These structures consist of CLLs that are randomized in both position and orientation. In addition, this thesis introduces an innovative antenna enhancing structure consisting of capacitively-loaded loop (CLL) metamaterial elements loaded radially around a standard dipole antenna at an electrically small distance. As a result of this innovative arrangement, the dipole antenna is easily transformed into a directive mechanically scanned antenna with high realized gain. The desired directivity and gain can be tuned based on the number of radial CLL fins placed around the dipole. Interactions between the antenna and metamaterial elements result in significant enhancement of the maximum radiated field amplitude and front-to-back ratio. This innovative CLL-loaded dipole antenna is compared to the conventional Yagi-Uda antenna. The structures presented in this thesis are modeled using full-wave simulation, and one antenna structure is experimentally verified as a proof-of-concept. / Master of Science

Neste trabalho foram desenvolvidas estratégias para a determinação de cafeína e detecção de adulterações no café, empregando a eletroforese capilar com detecção condutométrica sem contato (CE-C4D). A estratégia desenvolvida para a separação da cafeína se baseia na complexação dinâmica do analito com o ânion do eletrólito de corrida, 3,4-dimetoxicinamato. Utilizou-se como eletrólito de corrida 20 mmol L-1 de ácido 3,4-dimetoxicinâmico/Tris (pH 8,5). As separações foram conduzidas contra o fluxo eletrosmótico e o tempo de análise foi menor do que 5 minutos. Adicionalmente, o método se mostrou seletivo uma vez que análogos da cafeína (teobromina e teofilina) apresentaram tempo de migração diferenciado. O método proposto foi comparado com uma metodologia padrão (HPLC), apresentando resultados concordantes. O método foi aplicado para a determinação de cafeína em amostras de café convencional, solúvel e descafeinado. O limite de quantificação estimado para o método (0,33 mg/g) se mostrou suficientemente baixo, de forma a atender às exigências da legislação vigente. A identificação de adulterações no café provenientes da adição de outros materiais pode ser procedida utilizando como indicadores os teores totais de glicose e xilose obtidas por hidrólise controlada. Para promover a separação dessas espécies dos demais carboidratos presentes no café, varias estratégias foram avaliadas. As separações foram realizadas utilizando NaOH como eletrólito de corrida, de forma a possibilitar a ionização dessas espécies. O emprego de aditivos como metanol, acetonitrila e íons borato foram avaliados. A melhor condição obtida foi utilizando 80 mmol L-1 de NaOH, 0,5 mmol L-1 CTAB e 30% (v/v) de metanol. Os resultados mostraram que é possível identificar contaminações menores que aquelas consideradas como limites aceitáveis. / In this work, methods based on capillary electrophoresis with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (CE-C4D) for the determination of caffeine in coffee as well as for the identification of its adulteration by addition of some other vegetal products were developed. Caffeine is a neutral species, and the proposed method was based on its mobilization by the formation of a complex with the anion 3,4 dimethoxycinnamate. The experiments were carried out in buffer Tris/3,4 dimethoxycinnamic acid (pH 8.5) and the migration of the complex was done in counter electroosmotic flow. The running time was less than 5 minutes. In addition, theobromine and theophylline (two caffeine analogues) were completely separated. The new method was compared to a standard method based on HPLC, and similar results were obtained. Samples of integral, soluble, and decaffeinated coffees were analyzed and the limit of quantification (0.33 mg/g) was low enough to fulfill the Brazilian norm. The proposed approach for the identification of adulteration was based on the controlled hydrolysis of xylan and starch present in some vegetable adulterants, followed by the analysis of the resulting xylose and glucose, which are the monosaccharides that compose, respectively, the two polysaccharides. Although the monosaccharides are neutral species in ordinary conditions, they form anionic species in high values of pH. The best separations were obtained in NaOH 80 mmol L-1, CTAB 0.5 mmol L-1, and methanol 30% (v/v). The results showed that it is possible to identify levels of contamination below tolerable limits.

Neste trabalho foram desenvolvidas estratégias para a determinação de cafeína e detecção de adulterações no café, empregando a eletroforese capilar com detecção condutométrica sem contato (CE-C4D). A estratégia desenvolvida para a separação da cafeína se baseia na complexação dinâmica do analito com o ânion do eletrólito de corrida, 3,4-dimetoxicinamato. Utilizou-se como eletrólito de corrida 20 mmol L-1 de ácido 3,4-dimetoxicinâmico/Tris (pH 8,5). As separações foram conduzidas contra o fluxo eletrosmótico e o tempo de análise foi menor do que 5 minutos. Adicionalmente, o método se mostrou seletivo uma vez que análogos da cafeína (teobromina e teofilina) apresentaram tempo de migração diferenciado. O método proposto foi comparado com uma metodologia padrão (HPLC), apresentando resultados concordantes. O método foi aplicado para a determinação de cafeína em amostras de café convencional, solúvel e descafeinado. O limite de quantificação estimado para o método (0,33 mg/g) se mostrou suficientemente baixo, de forma a atender às exigências da legislação vigente. A identificação de adulterações no café provenientes da adição de outros materiais pode ser procedida utilizando como indicadores os teores totais de glicose e xilose obtidas por hidrólise controlada. Para promover a separação dessas espécies dos demais carboidratos presentes no café, varias estratégias foram avaliadas. As separações foram realizadas utilizando NaOH como eletrólito de corrida, de forma a possibilitar a ionização dessas espécies. O emprego de aditivos como metanol, acetonitrila e íons borato foram avaliados. A melhor condição obtida foi utilizando 80 mmol L-1 de NaOH, 0,5 mmol L-1 CTAB e 30% (v/v) de metanol. Os resultados mostraram que é possível identificar contaminações menores que aquelas consideradas como limites aceitáveis. / In this work, methods based on capillary electrophoresis with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (CE-C4D) for the determination of caffeine in coffee as well as for the identification of its adulteration by addition of some other vegetal products were developed. Caffeine is a neutral species, and the proposed method was based on its mobilization by the formation of a complex with the anion 3,4 dimethoxycinnamate. The experiments were carried out in buffer Tris/3,4 dimethoxycinnamic acid (pH 8.5) and the migration of the complex was done in counter electroosmotic flow. The running time was less than 5 minutes. In addition, theobromine and theophylline (two caffeine analogues) were completely separated. The new method was compared to a standard method based on HPLC, and similar results were obtained. Samples of integral, soluble, and decaffeinated coffees were analyzed and the limit of quantification (0.33 mg/g) was low enough to fulfill the Brazilian norm. The proposed approach for the identification of adulteration was based on the controlled hydrolysis of xylan and starch present in some vegetable adulterants, followed by the analysis of the resulting xylose and glucose, which are the monosaccharides that compose, respectively, the two polysaccharides. Although the monosaccharides are neutral species in ordinary conditions, they form anionic species in high values of pH. The best separations were obtained in NaOH 80 mmol L-1, CTAB 0.5 mmol L-1, and methanol 30% (v/v). The results showed that it is possible to identify levels of contamination below tolerable limits.

Τις τελευταίες δεκαετίες, οι διεργασίες πλάσματος με τάση διέγερσης ραδιοσυχνότητας χρησιμοποιούνται ολοένα και περισσότερο και απαντώνται σε διάφορες εφαρμογές όπως στην εναπόθεση υλικών, στην επεξεργασία επιφανειών κα. Αυτό έχει ως αποτέλεσμα οι εκκενώσεις αίγλης ραδιοσυχνότητας να προσελκύσουν έντονο επιστημονικό ενδιαφέρον. Μπορεί τα τελευταία χρόνια να έχει σημειωθεί σημαντική πρόοδος στον τομέα αυτό ωστόσο υπάρχει ακόμα και σήμερα ενδιαφέρον που αφορά το σχεδιασμό των συστημάτων αυτών καθώς και την ανάπτυξη μεθόδων που αφορούν την επαναληψιμότητα των διεργασιών καθώς και τον έλεγχο των ιδιοτήτων του πλάσματος. Ένας από αυτούς τους τομείς είναι ο ηλεκτρικός χαρακτηρισμός ηλεκτροδίων ραδιοσυχνότητας πηγών πλάσματος και η εύρεση της κατανεμημένης εμπέδησής τους και ακολούθως ο υπολογισμός της καταναλισκόμενης ισχύος σε εκκενώσεις αίγλης. Αυτές οι τεχνικές μπορούν να μας προσφέρουν σημαντικές πληροφορίες για τους μηχανισμούς και τα φαινόμενα που λαμβάνουν χώρα σε εκκενώσεις ραδιοσυχνότητας, οι οποίες αν στη συνεχεία αξιοποιηθούν να μας οδηγήσουν στον ακριβή προσδιορισμό και έλεγχο των συνθηκών. Στην εργασία αυτή αναλύονται μέθοδοι από τις οποίες προκύπτουν αποτελέσματα που αφορούν παραμέτρους του πλάσματος μέσω μετρήσεων τάσης, ρεύματος και διαφοράς φάσης σε κάποιο σημείο εξωτερικά του αντιδραστήρα. Παρουσιάζονται τα αποτελέσματα ηλεκτρικών μετρήσεων σε εκκενώσεις αργού που πραγματοποιήθηκαν σε μια χωρητικά συζευγμένη πηγή πλάσματος. Αρχικά παρουσιάζεται ο ηλεκτρικός χαρακτηρισμός της πηγής και αναλύονται τρεις μέθοδοι για τη μέτρηση και τον υπολογισμό της καταναλισκόμενης ισχύος της εκκένωσης. Στην πρώτη μέθοδο οι ηλεκτρικές μετρήσεις χρησιμοποιούνται για το προσδιορισμό ενός ισοδύναμου ηλεκτρικού κυκλώματος με κατανεμημένα στοιχεία (πυκνωτές, πηνία αντιστάσεις) το οποίο μπορεί να περιγράψει την εμπέδηση ανάμεσα στο σημείο μέτρησης εξωτερικά του αντιδραστήρα και την επιφάνεια του ηλεκτροδίου ραδιοσυχνότητας. Το ισοδύναμο αυτό κύκλωμα επιλύεται με βάση τους κανόνες του Kirchhoff και προκύπτουν οι τιμές της μιγαδικής τάσης και ρεύματος της εκκένωσης. Στη δεύτερη μέθοδο, η τάση καθώς και το ρεύμα της εκκένωσης υπολογίζονται μέσω ενός πίνακα ABCD, τα στοιχεία του οποίου έχουν υπολογιστεί από μετρήσεις σε ανοικτό και βραχυκυκλωμένο κύκλωμα. Η τρίτη μέθοδος, μοιάζει αρκετά με τη δεύτερη μόνο που έχει το πλεονέκτημα να είναι πιο απλή λόγω του ότι δεν απαιτεί τη μέτρηση της φάσης της εμπέδησης (της φάσης της τάσης σε σχέση με την τάση του ρεύματος). / Over the last decades, plasma processing has been widely used in various applications such as the deposition of thin films, surface modification, dry etching etc. As a result, radio-frequency discharges have attracted particular scientific interest. Despite the steps forward, there are still open issues especially concerning the design of plasma systems and the effective control of plasma parameters. A part of these issues is related to the electrical characterization of the stray impedance of the plasma electrode and the subsequent measurement and calculation of the real power consumption during the process. These techniques can lead to better understanding of the plasma processes and can also lead to more stable, reliable and almost ideal performing plasma systems. The aim of this study is to point out externally measured non-intrusive plasma parameters that could ease design, control and transferability of plasma conditions. In this work we demonstrate results of electrical characteristics of argon discharges carried out in a high vacuum capacitively coupled parallel plate reactor. Initially, the electrical characterization of the plasma reactor is presented and three methods for measuring and calculating the real power consumed in the discharge are analyzed.. At the first method, the electrical measurements are used to determine a simple equivalent circuit that can describe the parasitic impedances that interfere between the point of measurement and the RF electrode’s surface. The equivalent circuit model is then solved through Kirchhoff’s laws and values of the complex electrode’s voltage and current are obtained from the measured voltage and current at some point located outside the reactor. At the second method, the reactor is treated as a two-port network. The electrode’s voltage and current are calculated through the ABCD matrix of the reactor whose values a, b, c, d are extracted from open and short circuit measurements. The third method is a simplification of the second method as it does not require the phase of the impedance (the phase of the voltage relative to the current) for the calculations.

On this thesis work, design and construction of an up to date complete RF excitation system was intended. This excitation system is mainly based on highly efficient switching power generators and proper coupling of the power to the object plasma. This new excitation system design should answer the demands of today&#039 / s progressed CO2 lasers on various power ranges. Though it could be used by a large variety of applications including RF plasma and RF heating, on the first occasion in order to define design considerations, this system is to be exploited by RF excited fast flow and RF excited slab CO2 laser constructions.

The need for miniaturized, and high performance microwave devices has focused significant attention onto new fabrication technologies that can simultaneously achieve high performance and low manufacturing complexity. Additive manufacturing (AM) has proven its capability in fabricating high performance, compact and light weight microwave circuits and antennas, as well as the ability to achieve designs that are complicated to fabricate using other manufacturing approaches. Direct print additive manufacturing (DPAM) is an emerging AM process that combines the fused deposition modeling (FDM) of thermoplastics with micro-dispensing of conductive and insulating pastes. DPAM has the potential to jointly combine high performance and low manufacturing complexity, along with the possibility of real-time tuning. This dissertation aims to leverage the powerful capabilities of DPAM to come-up with new designs and solutions that meet the requirements of rapidly evolving wireless systems and applications. Furthermore, the work in this dissertation provides new techniques and approaches to alleviate the drawbacks and limitations of DPAM fabrication technology. Firstly, the development of 3D packaged antenna, and antenna array are presented along with an analysis of the inherent roughness of 3D printed structures to provide a deeper understanding of the antenna RF performance. The single element presents a new volumetric approach to realizing a 3D half-wave dipole in a packaged format, where it provides the ability to keep a signal distribution network in close proximity to the ground plane, facilitating the implementation of ground connections (e.g. for an active device), mitigating potential surface wave losses, as well as achieving a modest (10.6%) length reduction. In addition, a new approach of implementing conformal antennas using DPAM is presented by printing thin and flexible substrate that can be adhered to 3D structures to facilitate the fabrication and reduce the surface roughness. The array design leverages direct digital manufacturing (DDM) technology to realize a shaped substrate structure that is used to control the array beamwidth. The non-planar substrate allows the element spacing to be changed without affecting the length of the feed network or the distance to the underlying ground plane. The second part describes the first high-Q capacitively-loaded cavity resonator and filter that is compatible with direct print additive manufacturing. The presented design is a compromise between quality factor, cost and manufacturing complexity and to the best of our knowledge is the highest Q-factor resonator demonstrated to date using DPAM compatible materials and processes. The final version of the single resonator achieves a measured unloaded quality factor of 200-325 over the frequency range from 2.0 to 6.5 GHz. The two pole filter is designed using a coupled-resonator approach to operate at 2.44 GHz with 1.9% fractional bandwidth. The presented design approach simplifies evanescent-mode filter fabrication, eliminating the need for micromachining and vias, and achieving a total weight of 1.97 g. The design is fabricated to provide a proof-of-principle for the high-Q resonator and filter that compromises between performance, cost, size, and complexity. A stacked version of the two-pole filter is presented to provide a novel design for multi-layer embedded applications. The fabrication is performed using an nScrypt Tabletop 3Dn printer. Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) (relative permittivity of 2.7 and loss tangent of 0.008) is deposited using fused deposition modeling to form the antenna, array, resonator, and filter structures, and Dupont CB028 silver paste is used to form the conductive traces conductive regions (the paste is dried at 90 °C for 60 minutes, achieving a bulk DC conductivity of 1.5×106 S/m.). A 1064 nm pulsed picosecond Nd:YAG laser is used to laser machine the resonator and filter input and output feedlines.