Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2010. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-106). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.S.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2010. / Mode of access: Internet. Title from PDF title page; viewed on Jan. 21, 2010. Major professor: John Oliver. "Presented to the Electrical Engineering Department faculty of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo." "In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering." "January 2010." Includes bibliographical references (p. 119-121).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004. Directed by James D. Meindl. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 289-297).

Thesis (M.A.)--Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary, 1982. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-63).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-89).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Oklahoma, 1968. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [72]-77).

Thesis (Ph.D)--Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Madhavan Swaminathan; Committee Member: Andrew E. Peterson; Committee Member: Emmanouil M. Tentzeris; Committee Member: Hao-Min Zhou; Committee Member: Saibal Mukhopadhyay. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

There has been a constant need for low power techniques to achieve high performance at the lowest possible power dissipation. Lots of works have been done to achieve this target. These works have focused on the different aspects of power reduction. One of these aspects of power saving is Dynamic power reduction. This thesis work is focused on this aspect of power saving by reducing the unnecessary transitioning in the circuit. To achieve this, new method called data gating, is proposed here which stops unnecessary toggling in the circuit using different forms of gating mechanisms. This thesis is organized as follows; first chapter is about the low power design of CMOS circuits. That chapter covers the sources of power dissipation in ICs as well as the techniques that have been used to minimize the power consumption. Second chapter talks more about dynamic power consumption. Techniques used for reducing dynamic power consumption through reduction in switching activities are mentioned in that chapter. Also the new technique, Data Gating, to reduce dynamic power is proposed in second chapter. Third chapter talks about simulation setup, tools used for simulation. Results obtained from different simulations are presented in that chapter. Fourth Chapter is about the analysis of simulation results. It also outlines some possible limitations of the proposed method as well as certain points that need to be considered before applying new technique. Fifth and final chapter summarizes the conclusion and possible future work that can be done to enhance the proposed technique, Data Gating. / text

Not available / text

As the gate density increases in microelectronic devices, the interconnect delay or RC response also increases and has become the limiting delay to faster devices. In order to decrease the RC time delay, a new metallization scheme has been chosen by the semiconductor industry. Copper has replaced aluminum as the metal lines and new low-k dielectric materials are being developed to replace silicon dioxide. A promising low-k material is porous organosilicate glass or p-OSG. The p-OSG film is a hybrid material where the silicon dioxide backbone is terminated with methyl or hydrogen, reducing the dielectric constant and creating mechanically weak films that are prone to fracture. A few methods of improving the mechanical properties of p-OSG films have been attempted-- exposing the film to hydrogen plasma, electron beam curing, and ultra-violet light curing. Hydrogen plasma and electron-beam curing suffer from a lack of specificity and can cause charging damage to the gates. Therefore, ultra-violet light curing (UV curing) is preferable. The effect of UV curing on an ultra-low-k, k~2.5, p-OSG film is studied in this dissertation. Changes in the molecular structure were measured with Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy. The evolution of the molecular structure with UV curing was correlated with material and fracture properties. The material properties were film shrinkage, densification, and an increase in dielectric constant. From the changes in molecular structure and material properties, a set of condensation reactions with UV light are predicted. The connectivity of the film increases with the condensation reactions and, therefore, the fracture toughness should also increase. The effect of UV curing on the critical and sub-critical fracture toughness was also studied. The critical fracture toughness was measured at four different mode-mixes-- zero, 15°, 32°, and 42°. It was found that the critical fracture toughness increases with UV exposure for all mode mixes. The sub-critical fracture toughness was measured in Mode I and found to be insensitive to UV cure. A simple reaction rate model is used to explain the difference in critical and sub-critical fracture toughness. / text