This thesis describes an investigation by computer simulation of the performance of two semiconductor device types at the heart of optical high speed data communications, namely the PIN photodiode and the electroabsorption modulator. Both device types operate by light absorption and are therefore likely to have similar factors that limit their performance at high speed. In order to have high speed detection, the PIN photodiode has been investigated through varying the materials, and used a photodiode structure to improve its bandwidth. If output signals beyond the 3dB frequency limit can be well detected by the photodiode, then significant improvements in the detection speed can be achieved. This possibility is a motivation of this thesis. In this study the InP /InGaAs/InP PIN photodiode is chosen because the light at 1.55 urn wavelength can be absorbed by InGaAs. At 1.55J.lm, the fibre is on low dispersion and low loss. A numerical model of a PIN photodiode has been written in C. Comprehensive modelling ofthe PIN photodiode requires a self-consistent solution of the Poisson's equation for calculating the electrostatic potential and the continuity equations for the electron and hole currents. The PIN photo diode model has included the therm ionic current over the hetero-junction, drift current and diffusion current that other models often ignore. After completing an extensive study of the large signal performance of PIN photodiodes at data rates much higher than the conventional 3dB bandwidth, the model was extended to investigate InP/InGaAsP/lnGaAs MQW -EAM under high speed applied bias pulses. The numerical modelling of the MQW-EAM requires a self-consistent solution of the Poisson's equation, the Schrcdinger 's equation and the current continuity equation. The Schrodinger 's equation is for the estimation of carrier concentration in the quantum wells. The MQW-EAM numerical model has applied a special technique for adding the carrier concentration in the quantum wells to the charge density. 11 Large performance has been successfully analysed on PIN photodiode to reveal that optical pulses at repetition frequencies are substantially higher than the conventional 3dB limit can detect (1 ps FWHM and up to 240Gb/s repetition rate) to give photocurrent pulses with an open eye diagram even in the presence of simulated noise, however, these output current pulses tend to spread and merge together sometimes. This tendency can be counteracted to a reasonable extent by using a suitable repetition time, and a large input average power. Similar Gaussian shaped applied bias pulses have also applied to the MQW-EAM, in order to generate fast Gaussian shaped light power, however; the output light pulses spread out nearly 3 times compared with its applied bias pulses under 5ps FWHM and 48Gb/s repetition rate. Thinner l-layer and less quantum wells in the MQW-EAM might be the solution. iii

Organic bioelectronics is the convergence of organic electronics and biology. Motivated by the unique combination of both electronic and ionic conductivity, organic semiconducting materials have been applied in OECTs for sensing applications to translate bio-logical signals into a quantitative electrical reading. Due to their carbon-based structure and flexibility, CPs can achieve improved biocompatibility compared to inorganic devices as they are intrinsically “softer”, avoiding mechanical mismatch and the need for surface compatibilizing layers. These promising materials have broad potential to be used in applications such as biosensors, drug delivery, and neural interfaces. In the second chapter, a series of lysine-functionalized DPP3T semiconducting polymers, outline their synthesis, and demonstrate that these particular polymers allow neuron cells to adhere and grow, in comparison to unfunctionalized polymers, where cells quickly die. Through covalent attachment of small lysine units, the conjugated polymer backbone and cells can directly electrically communicate, favorable for neural signals recording/stimulating. In the third chapter, NDI-based semiconducting polymers are selected for lysinefunctionalization, giving protein-like surfaces for neurons to attach, grow and form a network without the need of an intermediate PDL coating. Most importantly, this careful choice of NDI backbone allows lysinated-NDI polymers to operate in OECTs with an outstanding normalized transconductance value of 0.25 S/cm. In the fourth chapter, a new technique is presented to biofunctionalize thin film surface of polymers. Two methods including CuAAC and thiol-ene click are demonstrated to be applicable to biofunctionalize surface. In particular, both of them can achieve biocompatible surface by attaching biomolecules at high density while maintaining electrically conductive film. In the final chapter, three series of NDI-T2 are presented synthesized via Stille coupling reaction using different Pd catalysts. Following electrochemical and device characterization, the study of the influence of spacers between backbone and EG chain for performance in OFET and OECT operations is carried out. It is clearly evidenced that electron mobility increases by a factor of 10 with gradual increased spacers for all polymers in OFETs devices. For OECTs, within three series, pNDI-Cx-T2 stands out, especially pNDI-C4-T2 giving the highest reported transconductance at 0.479 S/cm and a low threshold voltage of 0.18 V.

Indium-antimonide films have been prepared for experiments involving the application of high electric fields to this semiconducting material. The films have been deposited onto a mica substrate. To obtain high mobilities, a multilayer construction with subsequent annealing was used. Measurements of the complex propagation coefficient of a section of waveguide containing the film have been made and the results agree closely with a numerical solution of a theoretical model proposed for the structure. The design of a new type of a pulse generator for these high electric field experiments is described. / Thesis / Master of Engineering (ME)

The primary objective of the research is to investigate photosensitive semiconducting materials, mainly organic, and utilise them in antenna front-end systems and dynamic lenses for sub-THz applications. Mechanisms such as phase-shifting and photo-conductive switching are introduced in EM-devices to alter the antenna performance and behaviour. Using such mechanisms the devices are able to attain frequency, radiation pattern and polarisation reconfigurability. The common inorganic semiconductor, Si, and organic semiconductors such as poly 3-hexylthiophene (P3HT), [6,6]-Phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) have been extensively studied and used in the exemplar EM-devices developed for this thesis. In this research, novelty is deployed with the use of photosensitive semiconductors as a means of 'tuning' dielectrics to control the propagation of the emerging beam-field of an antenna. Both organic and inorganic photosensitive semiconductors have been implemented in this work. The research begins by exploring the physical properties of such photosensitive semiconductors at microwave frequencies. Medium-resistivity Si was characterised using a conventional microstrip transmission line and the conductivity of the Si piece in dark and active states were estimated by matching its transmission characteristics with the modelled Si in CST Studio Suite. Thereafter the modelled Si was used in an antenna design to estimate the reconfigurability of the device. However, inorganic semiconductors are being replaced with organic semiconductors because of their inflexibility in device fabrication. Organic polymers, on the other hand, are light in weight, can be cast onto any surface, when blended with an organic solvent, and also photo-excited using white light. Organic polymer heterojunction 95% P3HT: 5% PCBM was characterised and changes in the real and imaginary parts of the complex dielectric constant of the organic blend are measured in the range of -0.05 to -0.55 and +0.01 to +0.52 respectively, over the sub-THz frequency-domain. In order to demonstrate EM-control of a wave using a photo-sensitive material, a two-element patch antenna array using organic polymer P3HT-PCBM is fabricated and the functionality for antenna beam steering examined. Non-optimum illumination of the organic layer on the antenna patches, led to an asymmetric and perturbed beam steer. Hence, a novel optically triggered antenna has been proposed at S-Band (2 - 4 GHz), where sodalime glass is being used as lower substrate, ITO (Indium Tin Oxide), transparent to white-light, as the ground plane and transmission lines along with patches are modelled onto the upper substrate layer (P3HT:PCBM). The estimates of the dielectric changes in the organic polymer blend due to optical excitation were used as inputs in the modelled device to show the proof-of-concept for beam steering with such a phase-shifting device. In addition, the antenna design also demonstrated that with a small change in the real part of the permittivity of the substrate it is possible to generate a maximum beam steer of 5°, using an effective phase-shifting design in CST Studio Suite. At millimetre-wave or sub-terahertz frequencies, small changes in the dielectric with excitation-region depth comparable to the wavelength are plenty to manipulate the emerging wave of an antenna or lens. Hence, an optically-activated dynamic lens is proposed and designed to dynamically control millimetre-wave transmission using optical illumination. The lens acts as a graduated gateway for phase transmission by adjusting the spatial permittivity across the lens. A nearfield measurement system is used to analyse the performance of the lens over the WR-10 (75 - 110 GHz) waveband. The phase distribution of the electric field across the face of the plane organic lens shows a similar pattern in the spatial phase-distribution of the lens plane in the active state as that projected by the illuminating source, allowing for projection-angle-induced cosine errors. Hence the dynamic operation of the lens can be beneficial for beam controlling applications in imaging, surveillance and remote sensing in the mm-wave frequency-domain.

No description available.

<p>To fully optimize devices for solar energy conversion, a comprehensive understanding of how excitons migrate in materials for solar cell devices is crucial. Understanding the mechanisms behind exciton diffusion and energy transfer will enable the fabrication of highly efficient devices. However to thoroughly study exciton properties, techniques implementing high spatial (nm sizes) and temporal (fs time scales) resolution is required. Herein, we utilize transient absorption microscopy (TAM) with 50 nm spatial resolution and 200 fs temporal resolution to elucidate exciton diffusion in polymeric materials for solar energy conversion.</p> <p>While organic devices are inexpensive and require simpler fabrication procedures than inorganic materials, their device efficiencies often suffer due to their semi-crystalline nature, lending to short diffusion lengths which lead to trap sites and inevitably recombination. It has been demonstrated that achieving long-range exciton diffusion lengths is possible through coherence effects. Coherence can be found in an intermediate electronic coupling region where delocalization and localization compete.</p> <p>To exploit coherence effects, we study polymeric systems in which polymer chains are highly aligned via simple and scalable procedures; semiconducting fibers and solution coated films. In studying the fiber, we first implement polarized photoluminesce (PL) to determine optical ansitropy. From the polarized PL and PL images, it is observed that emission intensities are largest when probing along the transition dipole moment of the polymer. This suggests a type of Förester Resonance Energy Transfer mechanism in which excitons hop from one polymer chain to another.</p> <p>Solution coated polymer films are also studied to understand exciton diffusion as a function of deposition methods. By varying the solution concentration as well as coating rate, we are able to tune the morphology of the film. We observe a strong dependence between diffusion constant and deposition parameters, with diffusion constants of <i>ca.</i> 9, 13 and 33 cm²/s for three different films. The results obtained in this thesis are preliminary steps in an effort to elucidate energy transfer mechanisms and rates.</p><br>

populärwissenschaftlicher Abstract:<br /> Kristallisation, Biomimetik und halbleitende Polymere in räumlich begrenzten Systemen:<br /> Öl und Wasser mischen sich nicht, man kann aber aus beiden Flüssigkeiten Emulsionen herstellen, bei denen Tröpfchen der einen Flüssigkeit in der anderen Flüssigkeit vorliegen. Das heißt, es können entweder Öltröpfchen in Wasser oder Wassertröpfchen in Öl erzeugt werden. Aus täglichen Erfahrungen, z.B. beim Kochen weiß man jedoch, dass sich eine Emulsion durch Schütteln oder Rühren herstellen lässt, diese jedoch nicht besonders stabil ist. Mit Hilfe von hohen Scherenergien kann man nun sehr kleine, in ihrer Größe sehr einheitliche und außerdem sehr stabile Tröpfchen von 1/10000 mm erhalten. Eine solche Emulsion wird Miniemulsion genannt. <br /> In der Dissertation wurden nun z.B. Miniemulsionen untersucht, die aus kleinen Wassertröpfchen in einem Öl bestehen. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass das Wasser in diesen Tröpfchen, also in den räumlich begrenzten Systemen, nicht bei 0 &#176;C, sondern bei -22 &#176;C kristallisierte. Wie lässt sich das erklären? Wenn man einen Eimer Wasser hat, dann bildet sich normalerweise bei 0 &#176;C Eis, da nämlich in dem Wasser einige (manchmal ganz wenige) Keime (z.B. Schutzteilchen, ein Fussel etc.) vorhanden sind, an denen sich die ersten Kristalle bilden. Wenn sich dann einmal ein Kristall gebildet hat, kann das Wasser im gesamten Eimer schnell zu Eis werden. Ultrareines Wasser würde bei -22 &#176;C kristallisieren. Wenn man jetzt die Menge Wasser aus dem Eimer in kleine Tröpfchen bringt, dann hat man eine sehr, sehr große Zahl, nämlich 1017 Tröpfchen, in einem Liter Emulsion vorliegen. Die wenigen Schmutzpartikel verteilen auf sehr wenige Tröpfchen, die anderen Tröpfchen sind ultrarein. Daher kristallisieren sie erst bei -22 &#176;C.<br /> <br /> Im Rahmen der Arbeit konnte auch gezeigt werden, dass die Miniemulsionen genutzt werden können, um kleine Gelatine-Partikel, also Nanogummibärchen, herzustellen. Diese Nanogummibärchen quellen bei Erhöhung der Temperatur auf ca. 38 &#176;C an. Das kann ausgenutzt werden, um zum Beispiel Medikamente zunächst in den Partikeln im menschlichen Körper zu transportieren, die Medikamente werden dann an einer gewünschten Stelle freigelassen. In der Arbeit wurde auch gezeigt, dass die Gelatine-Partikel genutzt werden können, um die Natur nachzuahnen (Biomimetik). Innerhalb der Partikel kann nämlich gezielt Knochenmaterial aufgebaut werden kann. Die Gelatine-Knochen-Partikel können dazu genutzt werden, um schwer heilende oder komplizierte Knochenbrüche zu beheben. Gelatine wird nämlich nach einigen Tagen abgebaut, das Knochenmaterial kann in den Knochen eingebaut werden.<br /> <br /> LEDs werden heute bereits vielfältig verwendet. LEDs bestehen aus Halbleitern, wie z.B. Silizium. Neuerdings werden dazu auch halbleitende Polymere eingesetzt. Das große Problem bei diesen Materialien ist, dass sie aus Lösungsmitteln aufgebracht werden. Im Rahmen der Doktorarbeit wurde gezeigt, dass der Prozess der Miniemulsionen genutzt werden kann, um umweltfreundlich diese LEDs herzustellen. Man stellt dazu nun wässrige Dispersionen mit den Polymerpartikeln her. Damit hat man nicht nur das Lösungsmittel vermieden, das hat nun noch einen weiteren Vorteil: man kann nämlich diese Dispersion auf sehr einfache Art verdrucken, im einfachsten Fall verwendet man einfach einen handelsüblichen Tintenstrahldrucker. / The colloidal systems are present everywhere in many varieties such as emulsions (liquid droplets dispersed in liquid), aerosols (liquid dispersed in gas), foam (gas in liquid), etc. Among several new methods for the preparation of colloids, the so-called miniemulsion technique has been shown to be one of the most promising. Miniemulsions are defined as stable emulsions consisting of droplets with a size of 50-500 nm by shearing a system containing oil, water, a surfactant, and a highly water insoluble compound, the so-called hydrophobe<br /> <br /> 1. In the first part of this work, dynamic crystallization and melting experiments are described which were performed in small, stable and narrowly distributed nanodroplets (confined systems) of miniemulsions. Both regular and inverse systems were examined, characterizing, first, the crystallization of hexadecane, secondly, the crystallization of ice. It was shown for both cases that the temperature of crystallization in such droplets is significantly decreased (or the required undercooling is increased) as compared to the bulk material. This was attributed to a very effective suppression of heterogeneous nucleation. It was also found that the required undercooling depends on the nanodroplet size: with decreasing droplet size the undercooling increases.<br /> <br /> 2. It is shown that the temperature of crystallization of other n-alkanes in nanodroplets is also significantly decreased as compared to the bulk material due to a very effective suppression of heterogeneous nucleation. A very different behavior was detected between odd and even alkanes. In even alkanes, the confinement in small droplets changes the crystal structure from a triclinic (as seen in bulk) to an orthorhombic structure, which is attributed to finite size effects inside the droplets. An intermediate metastable rotator phase is of less relevance for the miniemulsion droplets than in the bulk. For odd alkanes, only a strong temperature shift compared to the bulk system is observed, but no structure change. A triclinic structure is formed both in bulk and in miniemulsion droplets.<br /> <br /> 3. In the next part of the thesis it is shown how miniemulsions could be successfully applied in the development of materials with potential application in pharmaceutical and medical fields. The production of cross-linked gelatin nanoparticles is feasible. Starting from an inverse miniemulsion, the softness of the particles can be controlled by varying the initial concentration, amount of cross-link agent, time of cross-linking, among other parameters. Such particles show a thermo-reversible effect, e.g. the particles swell in water above 37 &#176;C and shrink below this temperature. Above 37 &#176;C the chains loose the physical cross-linking, however the particles do not loose their integrity, because of the chemical cross-linking. Those particles have potential use as drug carriers, since gelatin is a natural polymer derived from collagen.<br /> <br /> 4. The cross-linked gelatin nanoparticles have been used for the biomineralization of hydroxyapatite (HAP), a biomineral, which is the major constituent of our bones. The biomineralization of HAP crystals within the gelatin nanoparticles results in a hybrid material, which has potential use as a bone repair material.<br /> <br /> 5. In the last part of this work we have shown that layers of conjugated semiconducting polymers can be deposited from aqueous dispersion prepared by the miniemulsion process. Dispersions of particles of different conjugated semiconducting polymers such as a ladder-type poly(para-phenylene) and several soluble derivatives of polyfluorene could be prepared with well-controlled particle sizes ranging between 70 - 250 nm. Layers of polymer blends were prepared with controlled lateral dimensions of phase separation on sub-micrometer scales, utilizing either a mixture of single component nanoparticles or nanoparticles containing two polymers. From the results of energy transfer it is demonstrated that blending two polymers in the same particle leads to a higher efficiency due to the better contact between the polymers. Such an effect is of great interest for the fabrication of opto-electronic devices such as light emitting diodes with nanometer size emitting points and solar cells comprising of blends of electron donating and electron accepting polymers.

Metal chalcogenide nanomaterials are interesting due to their size dependent properties and potential use in numerous types of devices or applications. The synthetic methods of binary phase metal chalcogenide nanoparticles are well established, but finding simple ways to make even more complex nanostructures is important. To this end, two techniques were studied: the cation exchange of metal chalcogenide nanocrystals, CdE → MxEy (E = S, Se, Te; M = Pd, Pt) and the solution phase synthesis of ternary chalcogenide nanoparticles. The effects of cation solvation and the volume change (Delta V) of reaction on the equilibrium and the morphology change in the cation-exchange reactions of CdE → MxEy were investigated. A two-phase solvent environment was particularly efficient in increasing the thermodynamic driving force. The effect of Delta V of reaction on the morphology of the product nanocrystals was also investigated. Depending on the stress developed in the lattice during the reaction, product nanocrystals underwent varying degrees of morphological changes, such as void formation and fragmentation, in addition to the preservation of the original morphology of the reactant nanocrystals. The knowledge of the effect of ion solvation and Delta V of reaction on the equilibrium and product morphology provides a new strategy and useful guide to the application of cation-exchange reactions for the synthesis of a broader range of inorganic nanocrystals. Using a solution phase method, the morphology of CuInSe2 nanoparticles could be tuned from small 10 nm spheres to micron length nanowires by varying the relative amount of strong and weak surfactants passivating the surface. Oleylamine and trioctylphosphine oxide were chosen as the strong and weak surfactants, respectively. Small isotropic structures were formed when the oleylamine was the only surfactant with the size of the nanospheres increasing as the amount of oleylamine decreased. For the CuInSe2 nanowires, weakly-binding dioctylphosphine oxide (DOPO), an impurity in the TOPO, was found to be the key surfactant that enables the anisotropic one-dimensional growth. Detailed analysis of the structure of the nanowires indicated that they grow perpendicular to (112) planes, with twinning around the growth axis by ~60 degree rotation. The nanowires exhibit a saw-tooth surface morphology resembling a stack of truncated tetrahedral.

The International Workshop on "Measuring Techniques in Liquid Metal Flows" (MTLM Workshop) was organised in frame of the Dresden "Innovationskolleg Magnetofluiddynamik". The subject of the MTLM Workshop was limited to methods to determine physical flow quantities such as velocity, pressure, void fraction, inclusion properties, crystallisation fronts etc. The present proceedings contain abstracts and viewgraphs of the oral presentations. During the last decades numerical simulations have become an important tool in industry and research to study the structure of flows and the properties of heat and mass transfer. However, in case of liquid metal flows there exists a significant problem to validate the codes with experimental data due to the lack of available measuring techniques. Due to the material properties (opaque, hot, chemical aggressive) the measurement of flow quantities is much more delicate in liquid metals compared to ordinary water flows. The generalisation of results obtained by means of water models to real liquid metal flows has often to be considered as difficult due to the problems to meet the actual values of non-dimensional flow parameters (Re, Pr, Gr, Ha, etc.). Moreover, a strong need has to be noted to make measuring techniques available to monitor and to control flow processes in real industrial facilities.

The objective of this work is to develop methods to investigate the thermoelectric (TE) transport in semiconducting nanowires (NWs). The thermal conductivity of degenerately doped electrochemically-etched (EE) silicon NWs was measured to be lower than silicon NWs synthesized by a vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) method without showing a clear dependence on the NW diameter. The thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) at near room temperature obtained from the three measured TE properties on the same EE Si NW was found to be between 0.01 of a very rough NW and 0.08 of a relatively smooth NW, the latter of which is about four times higher than that reported for bulk p-type Si at the optimum doping concentration. In addition, the NW samples could be contaminated or oxidized during the device processing. Based on the TEM characterization, they have relatively thick oxide layer and small surface roughness, and are apparently different from the EE Si NWs that a Berkeley team reported. Typical rough NWs reported by the Berkeley team have thin oxide layer and are free of major structural defects. Hence, given the significant structural differences in the samples, it would be scientifically inappropriate to compare the transport properties obtained from the two studies. In addition, a five to ten fold reduction in thermal conductivity was observed in wurtzite InAs NWs compared to bulk InAs of zinc blend phase, and is mainly attributed to diffuse surface scattering of phonons. Moreover, InSb NWs have been synthesized at three different base pressures. The NWs were found to be zinc-blende structure with <110> growth direction. The ZT of the two NWs is about 10 times lower than the bulk values mainly because of the much higher doping levels in NWs than the bulk as well as mobility suppression in the NWs. The ZT of one NW grown at a high vacuum base pressure is higher than another NW grown at low vacuum. These results show that it is necessary to better control the impurity doping in order to increase the ZT of the InSb NWs. / text