Barium Strontium Titanate (BST) based ferroelectric thin film devices have been popular over the last decade due to their versatile applications in tunable microwave devices such as delay lines, resonators, phase shifters, and varactors. BST thin films are promising candidates due to their high dielectric constant, tunability and low dielectric loss. Dielectric-tunable properties of BST films deposited by different deposition techniques have been reported which study the effects of factors, such as oxygen vacancies, film thickness, grain size, Ba/Sr ratio, etc. Researchers have also studied doping concentrations, high temperature annealing and multilayer structures to attain higher tunability and lower loss. The aim of this investigation was to study material properties of Barium Strontium Titanate from a comprehensive point of view to establish relations between various growth techniques and the film physical and electrical properties. The primary goal of this investigation was to synthesize and characterize RF magnetron sputtered Barium Strontium Titanate (Ba1-xSrxTiO3), thin film structures and compare their properties with BST thin films deposited by sol-gel method with the aim of determining relationships between the oxide deposition parameters, the film structure, and the electric field dependence. In order to achieve higher thickness and ease of fabrication, and faster turn around time, a `stacked' deposition process was adopted, wherein a thin film (around 200nm) of BST was first deposited by RF magnetron sputtering process followed by a sol-gel deposition process to achieve higher thickness. The investigation intends to bridge the knowledge gap associated with the dependence of thickness variation with respect to the tunability of the films. The film structures obtained using the three different deposition methods were also compared with respect to their analytical and electrical properties. The interfacial effect on these `stacked' films that enhance the properties, before and after annealing these structures was also studied. There has been significant attention given to Graphene-based supercapacitors in the last few years. Even though, supercapacitors are known to have excellent energy storage capability, they suffer from limitations pertaining to both cost and performance. Carbon (CNTs), graphene (G) and carbon-based nanocomposites, conducting polymers (polyaniline (PANI), polypyrrole (PPy), etc.) have been the fore-runners for the manufacture of supercapacitor electrodes. In an attempt to better understand the leakage behavior of Graphene Polyaniline (GPANI) electrodes, BST and BST thin films were incorporated as constituents in the process of making supercapacitor electrodes resulting in improved leakage behavior of the electrochemical cells. A detailed physical, chemical and electrochemical study of these electrochemical cells was performed. The BST thin films deposited were structurally characterized using Veeco Dektek thickness profilometer, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques. The interfacial structural characterization was carried out using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). This investigation, also presents noncontact electrical characterization of BST films using Corona Kelvin metrology (C-KM). The `stacked' BST thin films and devices, which were electrically tested using Corona Kelvin metrology, showed marked improvement in their leakage characteristics over both, the sputtered and the sol-gel deposited counterparts. The `stacked' BST thin film samples were able to withstand voltages up to 30V positive and negative whereas, the sol-gel and sputtered samples could hold only up to a few volts without charge leaking to reduce the overall potential. High frequency, 1GHz, studies carried out on BST thin film interdigitated capacitors yielded tunability near 43%. Leakage barrier studies demonstrated improvement in the charging discharging response of the GPANI electrochemical electrodes by 40% due to the addition of BST layer.

This dissertation is focused on the design, fabrication, and characterization of novel metamaterials in microwave and terahertz regions with the following outcomes: A planar &micro / -negative metamaterial structure, called double-sided SRR (DSRR), is proposed in the first part of this study. DSRR combines the features of a conventional split ring resonator (SRR) and a broadside-coupled SRR (BC-SRR) to obtain much better miniaturization at microwave frequencies for a given physical cell size. In addition to DSRR, double-sided multiple SRR (DMSRR), double-sided spiral resonator (DSR), and double-sided U-spiral resonator (DUSR) have been shown to provide smaller electrical sizes than their single-sided versions under magnetic excitation. In the second part of this dissertation, a novel multi-band tunable metamaterial topology, called micro-split SRR (MSSRR), is proposed. In addition to that, a novel magnetic resonator structure named single loop resonator (SLR) is suggested to provide two separate magnetic resonance frequencies in addition to an electric resonance in microwave region. In the third part, two different frequency tunable metamaterial topologies called BC-SRR and gap-to-gap SRR are designed, fabricated and characterized at terahertz frequencies with electrical excitation for the first time. In those designs, frequency tuning based on variations in near field coupling is obtained by in-plane horizontal or vertical displacements of the two SRR layers. The values of frequency shifts obtained for these tunable metamaterial structures are reported to be the highest values obtained in literature so far. Finally, in the last part of this dissertation, novel double-sided metamaterial based sensor topologies are suggested and their feasibility studies are presented.

Abstract In this thesis, bandwidth (BW) enhanced antennas for mobile terminals and multilayer ceramic packages are presented. The thesis is divided into two parts. In the first part, electrically frequency-tunable mobile terminal antennas have been studied. The first three antennas presented were of a dual-band planar inverted-F type (PIFA) and were tuned to operate in frequency bands appropriate to the GSM850 (824–894 MHz), GSM900 (880–960 MHz), GSM1800 (1710–1880 MHz), GSM1900 (1850–1990 MHz) and UMTS (1920–2170 MHz) cellular telecommunication standards with RF PIN diode switches. The first antenna utilized a frequency-tuning method developed in this thesis. The method was based on an integration of the tuning circuitry into the antenna. The tuning of the second antenna was based on a switchable parasitic antenna element. By combining the two frequency-tuning approaches, a third PIFA could be switched to operate in eight frequency bands. The planar monopole antennas researched were varactor-tunable for digital television signal reception (470–702 MHz) and RF PIN diode switchable dual-band antenna for operation at four cellular bands. The key advantage of the former antenna was a compact size (0.7 cm3), while for the latter one, a tuning circuit was implemented without using separate DC wiring for controlling the switch component. The second part of the thesis is devoted to multilayer ceramic package integrated microwave antennas. In the beginning, the use of a laser micro-machined embedded air cavity was proposed to enable antenna size to impedance bandwidth (BW) trade-off for a microwave microstrip in a multilayer monolithic ceramic media. It was shown that the BW of a 10 GHz antenna fabricated on a low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) substrate could be doubled with this technique. Next, the implementation of a compact surface mountable LTCC antenna package operating near 10 GHz was described. The package was composed of a BW optimized stacked patch microstrip antenna and a wide-band vertical ball grid array (BGA)-via interconnection. Along with the electrical performance optimization, an accurate circuit model describing the antenna structure was presented. Finally, the use of low-sintering temperature non-linear dielectric Barium Strontium Titanate (BST) thick films was demonstrated in a folded slot antenna operating at 3 GHz and frequency-tuned with an integrated BST varactor.

In radio frequency (RF), filtering is an essential part of RF transceivers. They are employed for different purposes of band selection, channel selection, interference cancellation, image rejection, etc. These are all translated in selecting the wanted signal while mitigating the rest. This can be performed by either selecting the desired frequency range by a band pass filter or rejecting the unwanted part by a band stop filter. Although there has been tremendous effort to design RF tunable filters, there is still lack of designs with frequency and bandwidth software-tuning capability at frequencies above 4 GHz. This prevents the implementation of Software Defined Radios (SDR) where software tuning is a critical part in supporting multiple standards and frequency bands. Designing a tunable integrated filter will not only assist in realization of SDR, but it also causes an enormous shrinkage in the size of the circuit by replacing the current bulky off-chip filters. The main purpose of this research is to design integrated band pass and band stop filters aimed to perform interference cancellation. In order to do so, two systems are proposed for this thesis. The first system is a band pass filter capable of frequency and band with tuning for C band frequency range (4-8 GHz) and is implemented in 0.13 µm BiCMOS technology. Frequency tunability is accomplished by using a variable capacitor (varactor) and bandwidth tuning is carried out by employing a negative transconductance cell to compensate for the loss of the elements. Additional circuitry is added to the band pass filter to enhance the selectivity of the filter. The second system is a band stop filter (notch) with the same capability as the band pass filter in terms of tuning. This system is implemented in C band, similar to its band stop counterpart and is capable of tuning its depth by using a negative transconductance in an LC tank. A negative feedback is added to the circuit to improve the bandwidth. While implemented in the same process as the band pass filter, it only employs CMOS transistors since it is generally more attractive due to its lower cost and scalability. Both of the systems mentioned use a varactor for changing the center frequency which is a nonlinear element. Therefore, the nonlinearity of it is modelled using two different methods of nonlinear feedback and Volterra series in order to gain further understanding of the nonlinear process taking place in the LC tank. After the validation of the models proposed using Cadence Virtuoso simulator, two methods of design and tuning are suggested to improve the linearity of the system. After post layout-extraction, the band pass filter is capable of Q tuning in the range of 3 to 270 and higher. With the noise figure of 10 to 14 dB and input 1-dB compression point as high as 2 dBm, the system shows a reasonably good performance along its operating frequency of 4 to 8 GHz. The band stop filter which is designed in the same frequency band can achieve better than 55 dB of rejection with the noise figure of 6.7 to 8.8 dB and 1-dB compression point of -4 dBm. With the power consumption of 39 to 70 mW, the band stop filter can be used in a low power receiver to suppress unwanted signals. The technique used in the band stop filter can be applied to higher frequency ranges if the circuit is implemented in a more advanced silicon technology. Implementing the mentioned filters in a receiver along with other elements of low noise amplifiers, mixers, etc. would be a major step toward full implementation of SDR systems. Studying the linearity theory of varactors would help future designers identify the sources of nonlinearity and suggest more efficient tuning techniques to improve the linearity of RF electronic systems. / Master of Science

Il y a à l'heure actuelle un grand besoin d'antennes reconfigurables dans la bande des 60 GHz pour des applications de télédétection et de télécommunications sans fil très hauts débits. Les solutions traditionnelles de reconfiguration sont basées sur des semiconducteurs ou des composants RF-MEMS, qui connaissent un coût, une complexité et des pertes croissantes en bande millimétrique. Dans cette thèse, une approche originale a été développée : elle est basée sur la reconfiguration mécanique d'antennes et dispositifs millimétriques microrubans sur substrat élastomère ultrasouple PDMS grâce à des actionneurs MEMS grands déplacements. Premièrement, les choix de conception, la technique de simulation éléments finis (HFSS), et surtout la microfabrication d'antennes sur membrane PDMS ainsi que les techniques de mesure en impédance et rayonnement sont abordés.Deux axes ont ensuite été étudiés : les antennes accordables en fréquence, et les antennes et composants pour le balayage angulaire (déphaseurs et antennes à balayage mécanique de type scanner). Des procédés technologiques innovants ont été développés (reports de métallisations épaisses biocompatibles et d'aimants permanents en couches minces sur membrane PDMS) et différentes techniques d'actionnement (pneumatique, magnétique, par électromouillage) ont été mises en œuvre. Les performances en terme d'accord en fréquence (8,2 %) et de balayage angulaire (-90/+100°) dépassent l'état de l'art des antennes du même type en bande millimétrique, et ceci en utilisant une technologie peu complexe, ultra bas-coût et prometteuse pour la montée en fréquence. / There is currently an increasing need for reconfigurable antennas in the 60 GHz band for remote sensing applications and wireless communications. Traditional reconfiguration solutions are based on semiconductors or RF-MEMS but these components face cost, complexity and losses issues at millimeter-waves.In this thesis, an original approach was developed: it is based on the mechanical reconfiguration of millimeter-wave microstrip antennas and devices printed on ultrasoft PDMS substrates, thank to large displacements MEMS actuators. First, the design choices, the finite element simulation technique (HFSS), and the microfabrication of antennas supported by PDMS membranes as well as the impedance and radiation measurements techniques have been discussed. Two axis have then been studied: frequency-tunable antennas, and beam-steering components (phase shifters and "scanner" type antennas). Innovative technological processes were developed (transfer of biocompatible metal patterns and permanent magnet thin films on PDMS membranes) and several actuation techniques (pneumatic, magnetic, electrowetting) were implemented. Performances in terms of frequency tuning (8.2%) and scan angles (-90 / 100 °) are beyond the state of the art for similar antennas in the millimeter-wave band, and are achieved by using a very simple, ultra low-cost technique that is expected to be effective at even higher frequencies.