Ce travail s’inscrit dans un contexte de développement des réacteurs de quatrième génération. Il concerne plus particulièrement la partie composite du gainage tubulaire de type sandwich envisagé par le CEA pour les réacteurs RNR-NA/Gaz. Le renfort est mis en forme par tressage et l’étude se focalise sur des composites tressés interlocks. Ces structures relativement nouvelles nécessitent une caractérisation mécanique poussée. Deux protocoles expérimentaux ont été développés permettant la réalisation d’essais de traction et de pression interne sur tube. Trois textures différentes ont ainsi été caractérisées. En parallèle un modèle multi-échelle a été mis en place permettant de relier la microstructure aux propriétés mécaniques du tube. Ce modèle est validé dans le domaine élastique sur une des textures caractérisées. Une première approche de l’endommagement de la structure est abordée et une amélioration possible du protocole est proposée. / This work is part of the development of the IVth generation of nuclear reactors. It relates more precisely to the composite portion of the sandwich type tubular cladding considered by the CEA for RNR-NA/Gaz type reactors. The texture is formed by a braiding technique and the study focuses on interlocks braided composite. These relatively new structures require extensive mechanical characterization. Two experimental protocols were developed to conduct tensile and internal pressure tests on tubes. Three different textures have been characterized. In addition, a multi-scale model was developed to connect the microstructure of the tube to its mechanical properties. This model is validated for the elastic behavior of a characterized texture. A first approach to the damage in the structure is proposed and a possible improved protocol is discussed.

In the railway industry, and premium luxury and super sports sectors of the automotive industry, traditional cast iron brake discs are gradually being replaced with advanced composites such as carbon fibre reinforced carbon silicon carbide (Cf/C-SiC). These materials offer the ability to operate at higher temperatures, whilst displaying improved friction performance, and vastly reduced wear rates. Their primary benefit comes from being approximately one third of the density of the incumbent material used in the industry, grey cast iron (GCI), a cast iron with a high proportion of graphite flakes formed during solidification. This reduced density means that brake discs manufactured from Cf/C-SiC materials are a highly suitable proposition for a future automotive market, where weight saving in an attempt to meet ever restrictive CO2 emissions is a must. The understanding surrounding the friction mechanisms involved with these new materials has been lacking, until recently, with the majority of the international research focused on the manufacturing methods. Research has shown that friction performance, particularly bedding friction, is highly dependent on the successful formation of a friction transfer film (FTF) at the surface of any disc, comprised from wear debris from both the disc and pad. Prior research carried out at Loughborough University has identified that Cf/C-SiC materials do not readily form such a layer, as might be seen on a GCI equivalent, due to the intrinsically heterogeneous nature of the composite material.

<p>The goal of the project work has been to study the symmetry of the phonons in 4H and 6H-SiC for different measuring geometries by using two experimental techniques, Raman and infrared absorption (IR) spectroscopy, and a theoretical model. The Raman spectra were measured in different scattering configurations in order to obtain experimental data for detailed investigation of the phonon symmetries.</p><p>The gross features of the spectra obtained in different geometries can be explained using general group-theoretical arguments. Using a lattice-dynamics model, we have also calculated the angular dependence of the phonon energies near the centre of the Brillouin zone, as well as the phonon displacements in some high-symmetry directions. The theoretical results are used to interpret the Raman lines in different configurations, and it was possible to estimate that if ionicity of the bonding of 12% is taken in the theoretical model for 4H-SiC, the splitting of the polar TO mode and the shift of the polar LO mode observed in our spectra are well reproduced theoretically. It was also observed that these polar modes have to be classified as longitudinal and transversal with respect to the direction of phonon wave vector, while the rest of the modes remain longitudinal or transversal with respect to the c-axis of the crystal. The Raman lines in the case of 4H SiC have been tentatively labelled with the irreducible representations of the point group of the crystal (C6v).</p>

Thermal annealing 4H-SiC(0001) substrates to produce epitaxial graphene on Si-terminated SiC was performed using five different procedures, i.e. direct and indirect current heating at different based pressures and a temperature of about 1300 . The aim is to study the effects of graphene growth under different conditions and also to produce large homogeneous graphene. To investigate the prepared samples, two surface analytical techniques, i.e. low energy electron microscopy (LEEM) and photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) have been used. LEEM was first used to observe the surface morphologies of the prepared samples. In combination with LEEM instrument, low energy electron diffraction (LEED) was used to verify the existence of graphene on SiC substrate. The number of graphene layer was determined by collecting electron reflectivity at different electron energies. The number of dips observed in the electron reflectivity curve corresponds to the number of graphene layer. The experimental results obtained from LEEM and LEED have demonstrated that a film consisting of fairly large domains of 1 and 2 monolayer (ML) graphene was obtained by direct current heating of SiC under high vacuum (HV) condition with the based pressure of 10-6 Torr. A domain size in the range of up to about 5 to 10 μm have been observed. Meanwhile another graphene film prepared by the same method and the same temperature but under ultra high vacuum (UHV) condition with the based pressure of 10-10 Torr has much smaller domain size of 1 ML graphene compared to that grown under HV condition. We therefore suggested that the based pressure during the graphene growth has a strong influence on the morphology of graphene. This is because the Si evaporation rate is suppressed when heated in a high pressure environment, which normally leads to the improvement of the surface quality. The suppression of the Si evaporation rate has also been verified by a result obtained from the other sample directly heated under much higher based pressure, i.e. in an argon (Ar) environment of 1 atm. In addition to LEEM and LEED, the existence of graphene on SiC substrate has also been verified by the PES measurement. The C1s spectrum of graphene sample grown on SiC(0001) substrate showed three components, i.e. bulk SiC, graphene (G) and the buffer layer (B) located at 283.7 eV, 284.5 eV and 285.1 eV, respectively. The intensity ratios of the three components in the C1s spectrum were also used to estimate the number of graphene layer. The estimated number of graphene layer corresponds to the result obtained from LEEM.

The goal of the project work has been to study the symmetry of the phonons in 4H and 6H-SiC for different measuring geometries by using two experimental techniques, Raman and infrared absorption (IR) spectroscopy, and a theoretical model. The Raman spectra were measured in different scattering configurations in order to obtain experimental data for detailed investigation of the phonon symmetries. The gross features of the spectra obtained in different geometries can be explained using general group-theoretical arguments. Using a lattice-dynamics model, we have also calculated the angular dependence of the phonon energies near the centre of the Brillouin zone, as well as the phonon displacements in some high-symmetry directions. The theoretical results are used to interpret the Raman lines in different configurations, and it was possible to estimate that if ionicity of the bonding of 12% is taken in the theoretical model for 4H-SiC, the splitting of the polar TO mode and the shift of the polar LO mode observed in our spectra are well reproduced theoretically. It was also observed that these polar modes have to be classified as longitudinal and transversal with respect to the direction of phonon wave vector, while the rest of the modes remain longitudinal or transversal with respect to the c-axis of the crystal. The Raman lines in the case of 4H SiC have been tentatively labelled with the irreducible representations of the point group of the crystal (C6v).

This dissertation documents alternative designs of the Zero Forcing decoding algorithm with Successive Interference Cancellation (ZF-SIC) for use in Vertical Bell Laboratories Layered Space Time Architecture (V-BLAST) Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems, in an effort to reduce the computational complexity of the receiver. The development of a wireless platform utilizing this architecture intended for use in an indoor wireless multipath environment was created to analyze the multipath environment. This implementation is the result of efforts from several individuals within the CST group. My contributions are documented in this dissertation. In order to obtain channel state information (CSI), a training sequence is sent with each incoming frame. A pseudo-inverse operation is performed on the channel matrix and applied to each OFDM symbol that was received. Performing this operation on each tone and across each OFDM symbol is computationally inefficient in a MIMO configuration. If the number of pseudo-inverses can be reduced while maintaining acceptable levels of bit error, the processing time of each frame can be decreased. Traditionally, tests of the performance of ZF-SIC have been conducted with simulations modelling a multipath channel. In this thesis, CSI is observed using an open loop platform developed for MIMO-OFDM communications. The rate of change of the channel is observed for different multipath environments. The proposed methods of decoding require modifications to ZF-SIC. The suggested changes are only applicable to a MIMO OFDM based method of data transmission. The most effective method of reducing decoding complexity and maintaining an acceptable number of bit errors was observed to occur in the time domain rather than in the frequency domain. For selecting frames and averaging frames in the time domain it was determined that the optimal number of OFDM symbols per frame is 1932 and 174, respectively.

The atomic and electronic structures of Au-intercalated graphene buffer layer on SiC(0001) surface were investigated using first-principles calculations. The unique Dirac cone of the graphene near K point reappeared as the buffer layer was intercalated by Au atoms. Coherence interfaces were used to study the mismatch and strain at the interfaces. Our calculations showed that the strain at graphene/Au and Au/SiC(0001) interfaces also played a key role in the electronic structures. Futhermore, we found that at Au coverage of 3/8 ML, Au intercalation leads to strong n-type doping of graphene. At 9/8 ML, it exhibited weak p-type doping, meaning that graphene is not fully decoupled from substrate. The shift of Dirac point resulting from electronic doping is not only due to different electronegativities but also strains at the interfaces. Our calculated positions of Dirac points are consistent with those observed in the ARPES experiment [Isabella Gierz et al., Phys. Rev. B 81, 235408 (2010).].

In this thesis, high density plasma chemical vapor deposition (HDPCVD) is used to fabricate novel multiple quantum well structure of light emitting diodes (LEDs) and charge storaged layers of SONOS nonvolatile semiconductor memories (NVSMs). On the study of the light emitting diodes (LEDs) technology, wide band gap hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide and porous silicon carbide has blue or green luminescence are currently being investigated for applications in optoelectronic devices. However, due to the indirect band gap character, the quantum efficiency of these LEDs is very low. In our experiment, we fabricate 5-periods hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide multiple quantum well structure to enhance the luminescence efficiency. In our study, there are some following notable features: (1) The a-SixC1-x multiple quantum well structure prepared by high density plasma chemical vapor deposition and it shows visible photoluminescence at room temperature. (2) After fluorine ions implantation and thermal annealing, The PL energy of a-SixC1-x multiple quantum well shift to high energy. (3) The PL intensity of SiO2-barrier SixC1-x multiple quantum well is larger than SiNx-barrier. (4) The film adheres well to glass or Si wafer even at low deposition temperature, e.g. 200 0C by high density plasma chemical vapor deposition. On the study of the silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS) nonvolatile semiconductor memories (NVSMs) technology, the SONOS is a multi-dielectric device consisting of an oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) sandwich in which charge storage takes place in discrete traps in the silicon nitride layer. In addition to silicon nitride as the storage layer, we have studied the oxide/SiC:O/oxide sandwiched structures and thermal oxidation of SiC layer as a storage layer by HDPCVD processes. In our study, there are some following notable features: (1) From the capacitance-voltage and current-voltage characteristics of oxygen-incorporated silicon carbide with different oxygen content, it is observed that the memory window is decreased with increasing the oxygen content. By controlling the oxygen content, a higher breakdown voltage can be achieved. (2) In the study of the oxidation of SiC, it is found that low temperature (800 ¢J) oxidized SiC shows a larger memory window than that of the high temperature (925 ¢J) oxidized SiC by high density plasma chemical vapor deposition.

In the generation of deep submicron semiconductor fabrication¡Atransmission delay is primarily caused by the parasitic resistance and capacitance (RC) in the multilevel interconnects. Besides¡Aelectromigration is also a serious issue for the reliability of devices . There are two principle methods of reducing the RC delay. The first method is to replace the Al wires with Cu interconnects which supply lower resistivity and high resistance to electromigration. The second method is to use a lower dielectric constant material as the inter-metal dielectric. But in Copper metallization¡Athe key issue of this technology is the formation of a thin barrier layer for Cu on the surface of the SiC film to prevent the absorption of water and diffusion of Cu. In this study¡Awe employed films SiC base compounds to investigate their chemical bonds, I-V characteristics comparisons with Al and Cu gate. On the other hand, because of serious C-V hysteretic phenomena, we try to analyze and build up models. There five models is reasonable for our experiment: (1) mobile ions, (2) dielectric polarization, (3) carrier injection, (4) gate-electrons injection, and (5) bound charges. They happens in different materials and structures.

Graphene has been one of the most interesting and widely investigated materials in the past decade. Because of its high mobility, high current density, inherent strength, high temperature stability and other properties, scientists consider it a promising material candidate for the future all-carbon electronics. However, graphene still exhibits a number of problems such as an unknown interface structure and no sizable band gap. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to probe and solve these problems to make graphene suitable for electronics. The work focuses on high-quality C-face epitaxial graphene, which is grown on the (000-1) face (C-face) of hexagonal silicon carbide using the confinement-controlled sublimation method. C-face epitaxial graphene has much higher mobility compared to Si-face graphene, resulting from its special stacking order and interface structure, the latter of which is not fully understood. Thus, the first part of the work consists of a project, which is to investigate and modify the interface and the surface of C-face graphene by silicon deposition and annealing. Results of this project show that silicon can intercalate into the graphene-SiC interface and form SiC by bonding carbon atoms on the graphene surface. Another crucial problem of graphene is the absence of a band gap, which prevents graphene from becoming an ideal candidate for traditional digital logic devices. Therefore, the second project of this work is devoted to introducing a wide band gap into the graphene electronic structure by growing from a nitrogen-seeded SiC. After successful opening of a band gap, a pre-patterning method is applied to improve graphene thickness variations, orientational epitaxy, and the gapped electronic structure.