Prior to an underground excavation a site investigation is carried out. This includes reviewing and analysing existing data, field data collected through outcrop mapping, drill core logging and geophysical investigations. These data sources are combined and used to characterise, quantify and classify the rock mass for the tunnel design process and excavation method selection. Despite the best approaches used in a site investigation, it cannot reveal the required level of detail. Such gaps in information might become significant during the actual construction stage. This can lead to; for example, over-break due to unfavourable geological conditions. Even more so, an underestimation of the rock mass properties can lead to unplanned stoppages and tunnel rehabilitation. On-the-other-hand, the excavation method itself, in this case, drill and blast, can also cause severe damage to the rock mass. This can result in over-break and reduction of the strength and quality of the remaining rock mass. Both of these attributes pose risks for the tunnel during excavation and after project delivery. Blast damage encompasses over-break and the Excavation Damage Zone (EDZ). In the latter irreversible changes occur within the remaining rock mass inside this zone, which are physically manifested as blast fractures. In this thesis, a number of methods to determine blast damage have been investigated in two ramp tunnels of the Stockholm bypass. Herein, a comparison between the most common methods for blast damage investigation employed nowadays is performed. This comparison can be used to select the most suitable methods for blast damage investigation in tunnelling, based on the environment and the available resources. In this thesis Ground Penetrating Radar, core logging (for fractures) and P-wave velocity measurements were applied to determine the extent of the blast damage. Furthermore, the study of the two tunnels in the Stockholm bypass shows a significant overestimation of the actual rock mass quality during the site investigation. In order to gain a more accurate picture of the rock mass quality, Measurement While Drilling (MWD) technology was applied. The technology was investigated for rock mass quality prediction, quantifying the extent of blast damage, as well as to investigate the potential to forecast the required rock support. MWD data was collected from both grout and blast holes. These data sets were used to determine rock quality indices e.g. Fracture Indication and Hardness Indicator calculated by the MWD parameters. The Fracture Index was then compared with the installed rock support at the measurement location. Lastly, the extent of the damage is investigated by evaluating if the MWD parameters could forecast the extent of the EDZ. The study clearly shows the capability of MWD data to predict the rock mass characteristics, e.g. fractures and other zones of weakness. This study demonstrated that there is a correlation between the Fracture Index (MWD) and the Q-value, a parameter widely used to determine the required rock support. The study also shows a correlation between the extent of the blast damage zone, MWD data, design and excavation parameters (for example tunnel cross section and charge concentration).

The theme of this thesis is to create a conceptual study of the tunnel on high speed railway. Selection of suitable cross section and tunnelling method with considering of geological conditions of the site. Design of primary support and technological process of construction.

Ferroelectrics are theoretically an ideal solution for low write power nonvolatile memories. However, the complexity of ferroelectric perovskites has hindered the scaling of such devices to competitive feature sizes. The discovery of ferroelectricity in hafnium oxide solved this issue. Ferroelectric memories in three variants, capacitor based ferroelectric RAM, ferroelectric field effect transistors and ferroelectric tunneling junctions have become competitors for future memory solutions again. In this paper, the basics and current status of hafnium oxide based ferroelectric memory devices is described and recent results are shown.

La miniaturisation de la structure de transistor MOS a conduit à l'amincissement de l’oxyde de grille. Ainsi, la dégradation et le claquage sous contrainte électrique est devenu l'un des problèmes de fiabilité les plus importants des couches minces d'oxydes. L'utilisation de techniques de caractérisation permettant de mesurer les courants de fuite avec une résolution spatiale nanométrique a montré que le phénomène de claquage des oxydes est un phénomène très localisé. Le diamètre des «points chauds», des endroits où le courant de fuite est très élevé pour une tension appliquée continue, peut-être de quelques nanomètres uniquement. Ceci illustre pourquoi les méthodes de caractérisation avec une résolution spatiale à l’échelle nanométrique peuvent fournir des informations supplémentaires par rapport à la caractérisation classique macroscopique. Il y a deux instruments, dérivés de la microscopie à force atomique (AFM) qui peuvent être utilisés pour faire ce travail, soit le Tunneling Atomic Force Microscope (TUNA) ou le Conductive Atomic Force Microscope (C-AFM). Le mode TUNA qui est utilisé dans notre travail est capable de mesurer des courants très faibles variant entre 60 fA et 100 pA. Notre travail peut être divisé en deux thèmes principaux: - La caractérisation électrique des couches minces d'oxydes high-k (LaAlO3 et Gd2O3) à l'échelle nanométrique en utilisant le Dimension Veeco 3100 où nous avons montré que la différence de leurs techniques d'élaboration influe largement sur le comportement électrique de ces oxydes. - Les caractérisations électriques et physiques à l’échelle nanométrique des couches minces d’oxydes thermiques SiO2 sous différentes atmosphères, c.à.d. dans l'air et sous vide (≈ 10-6 mbar) en utilisant le microscope Veeco E-Scope. L'influence de l’atmosphère a été bien étudiée, où nous avons montré que les phénomènes de claquage des couches minces d'oxydes peuvent être fortement réduits sous vide surtout en l'absence du ménisque d'eau sur la surface de l'oxyde pendant les expériences. En utilisant les plusieurs modes de l'AFM, il a été démontré que l'existence de bosses anormales (hillocks) sur la surface de l'oxyde après l'application d'une tension électrique est une combinaison de deux phénomènes: la modification morphologique réelle de la surface de l'oxyde et la force électrostatique entre les charges piégées dans le volume de l'oxyde et la pointe de l'AFM. Selon les images du courant obtenues par AFM en mode TUNA, deux phénomènes physiques pour la création de ces hillocks ont été proposés: le premier est l'effet électro-thermique et la seconde est l'oxydation du substrat Si à l’interface Si/oxyde. / Miniaturization of the MOS transistor structure has led to the high thinning of the gate oxide. Hence, degradation and breakdown under electrical stress became one of the important reliability concerns of thin oxide films. The use of characterization techniques allowing to measure leakage currents with a nanometric spatial resolution has shown that breakdown phenomenon of oxides is a highly localized phenomenon. So called “hot spots”, places where the leakage current is very high for a given applied continuous voltage, can be several nanometers wide only. This illustrates why nanometric characterization methods with a nanometer range spatial resolution provide additional information compared to the classical macroscopic characterization. There are two instruments that can be used to do this job, either the Tunneling Atomic Force Microscope (TUNA) or the Conductive Atomic Force Microscope (C-AFM). TUNA which is used in our work is capable to measure very low currents ranging between 60 fA and 100 pA. Our work can be divided into two principle topics: - Electrical characterization of thin high-k oxides (LaAlO3 and Gd2O3) at the nano-scale using the Veeco Dimension 3100 where we have shown that the difference in their elaboration techniques largely influence the electrical behavior of these oxides. - Nano-scale electrical and physical characterization of thin SiO2 thermal oxides in different surrounding ambient, that is in air and under vacuum (≈ 10-6 mbar) using the Veeco E-scope microscope. The influence of the experiment surrounding ambient has been well studied where we have shown that the breakdown phenomena of thin oxide films can be highly reduced under vacuum especially in the absence of the water meniscus on the oxide’s surface under study. Using different AFM modes, it was demonstrated that the existence of the well-known hillock (protrusions) on the oxide’s surface after the application of an electrical stress is a combination of two phenomena: the real morphological modification of the oxide’s surface and the electrostatic force between the trapped charges in the oxide’s volume and the AFM tip. Depending on the current images obtained by TUNA AFM mode, two physical phenomena for the creation of these hillocks have been proposed: the first is the electro-thermal effect and the second is the oxidation of the Si substrate at the Si/oxide interface.

In this thesis, superconducting nanostructures for quantum detection of electromagnetic radiation are studied. In this regard, electrodynamics of topological excitations in 1D superconducting nanowires and 2D superconducting nanostrips is investigated. Topological excitations in superconducting nanowires and nanostrips lead to crucial deviation from the bulk properties. In 1D superconductors, topological excitations are phase slippages of the order parameter in which the magnitude of the order parameter locally drops to zero and the phase jumps by integer multiple of 2\pi. We investigate the effect of high-frequency field on 1D superconducting nanowires and derive the complex conductivity. Our study reveals that the rate of the quantum phase slips (QPSs) is exponentially enhanced under high-frequency irradiation. Based on this finding, we propose an energy-resolving terahertz radiation detector using superconducting nanowires. In superconducting nanostrips, topological fluctuations are the magnetic vortices. The motion of magnetic vortices result in dissipative processes that limit the efficiency of devices using superconducting nanostrips. It will be shown that in a multi-layer structure, the potential barrier for vortices to penetrate inside the structure is elevated. This results in significant reduction in dissipative process. In superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs), vortex motion results in dark counts and reduction of the critical current which results in low efficiency in these detectors. Based on this finding, we show that a multi-layer SNSPD is capable of approaching characteristics of an ideal single photon detector in terms of the dark count and quantum efficiency. It is shown that in a multi-layer SNSPD the photon coupling efficiency is dramatically enhanced due to the increase in the optical path of the incident photon.

The ability of RNA bases to self-assemble into larger structures is an important research area relevant to the origins of life. In the RNA helix the bases are arranged on a sugar-phosphate carcass but it has been suggested that the initial ordering could form on a flat surface. This thesis is an attempt to establish experimentally whether the complementary RNA bases, adenine and uracil, have the ability to self-assemble into large ordered structures when adsorbed on metal and mineral surfaces. The Au (111) surface was chosen as a preferred substrate as it is flat, relatively free of defects, chemically inert and reconstructs in a characteristic pattern of corrugation lines, which provide a reference for crystallographic directions. Six of the molecular phases shown were observed for the first time with molecular resolution and the possible two-dimensional arrangements of adenine and uracil molecules for these phases are proposed. The pure adenine and pure uracil structures have chiral unit cells and in the case of pure uracil alternating monochiral domains within the polychiral islands are created. Well-ordered intricate uracil-adenine bimolecular networks were also observed. The self-assembly of both uracil and adenine appears to be weakly influenced by the surface crystallography. The (100) surface of the mineral pyrite (FeS₂) was chosen as the alternative substrate as it is the most common face that occurs naturally in pyrite crystals. The experiments show the formation of small adenine and uracil crystals at the terrace edges. Neither uracil nor adenine were observed to form a monolayer on the surface of the terraces. The results of the experiments described in this thesis are very interesting in terms of establishing the possible mechanisms for creating regular chiral molecular networks and provide a useful insight into the role of surfaces in the processes of self-assembly of RNA bases.

This thesis describes investigations into the role of non-stoichiometry in the surface and bulk properties of SrTiO₃ single crystals. A family of (n×n) reconstructions, where n = 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 are produced by argon ion sputtering of the SrTiO₃ (111) single crystals and subsequent annealing in UHV or in an oxygen rich environment. The sputtering process introduces defects or oxygen vacancies in the surface region of the sample, whilst the annealing gives rise to surface reconstructions. The surface preparation conditions such as sputtering time, annealing temperature and environment are optimized to obtain various reconstructions in a controlled and reproducible manner. High resolution STM images of these reconstructions are also obtained and utilized in the investigation of the surface reactivity. Fullerene molecules are deposited on the reconstructed surfaces to elucidate the surface reactivity through template assisted growth. Fullerene molecules are first deposited with substrate surfaces held at room temperature. Being the most highly reduced among the (n×n) family, the 5×5 reconstruction significantly influenced the growth of fullerenes. Both C₆₀ and C₇₀ adsorb as individual molecules and produce clusters with magic numbers. The 4×4 and 6×6 reconstructed surfaces encourage the formation of close-packed structures upon the deposition at room temperature. When the surface covered with fullerenes is heated to a temperature of around 200 °C, epitaxial islands are observed. The 6×6 reconstructed surface appeared to be less reactive than the 4×4. Electrical transport, cathodoluminescence (CL) and electron spin resonance (ESR) experiments are also carried out to investigate the effect of oxygen vacancies on the bulk properties of UHV annealed SrTiO₃ single crystals. Thermal reduction leads to carrier doping of the material, which not only gives rise to electrical conduction but also induces room temperature luminescence. Both the electrical conductivity and CL intensity increases with annealing time. The work presented in this thesis provides insight into the defect driven properties in both the surface and bulk of SrTiO₃ single crystals, which could play an important role in the development of oxide-based electronic devices.

Le graphène est un cristal bidimensionnel composé d'atomes de carbone arrangés sur un réseau en nids d'abeille. Ce matériau présente des propriétés électroniques intéressantes tant au niveau fondamental qu'en vue d'applications avec notamment une structure de bande exotique en « cône de Dirac » et de grandes mobilités de porteurs. Sa fabrication par graphitisation du SiC est particulièrement adaptée aux applications électroniques. Nous avons étudié ce système par microscopie à effet tunnel (STM) et simulations numériques ab initio avec comme objectif la caractérisation au niveau atomique de l'interface graphène - SiC(000-1) (face carbone) et l'étude de l'impact du substrat sur la structure électronique du graphène. Après un chapitre introductif à la thématique du graphène, suivi d'un chapitre présentant les deux techniques utilisées au cours de ce travail, nous présentons nos échantillons faiblement graphitisés obtenus sous ultra-vide. Nous avons identifié deux types d'interfaces, les reconstructions natives de la surface du SiC(000-1) appelées (2x2)C et (3x3), sur lesquelles reposent les ilots monoplan de graphène, avec un fort désordre rotationnel donnant lieu à des figures de moiré sur les images STM. Nous montrons par imagerie STM et spectroscopie tunnel que l'interaction graphène/(3x3) est très faible. Nous étudions ensuite le cas d'interaction plus forte graphène/(2x2) successivement du point de vue des états du graphène et des états de la reconstruction, dans l'espace direct et réciproque, de façon expérimentale et théorique. Enfin, nous considérons l'effet de défauts observés par STM à l'interface des ilots sur (2x2), modélisés par des adatomes d'hydrogène, sur le dopage et la structure de bande électronique du graphène. / Graphene refers to a two-dimensional crystal made of carbon atoms arranged on a honeycomb lattice. This material presents interesting electronic properties regarding fundamental physics as well as industrial applications, such as an exotic low-energy band structure and high charge carrier mobility. Its fabrication through the graphitization of SiC is a promising method for electronics. We studied this system using scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and ab initio numerical simulations with the aim of characterizing the graphene - SiC(000-1) (carbon face) interface and studying the impact of the substrate on graphene's electronic structure. After an introduction to the graphene topic and a description of our investigation techniques, we present our lightly graphitized samples obtained under ultra-high vacuum. We identify two interface structures, the native SiC(000-1) surface reconstructions named (2x2)C and (3x3), on top of which lie graphene monolayer islands with a high rotational disorder leading to various moiré patterns on STM images. Using STM, we show that the graphene/(3x3) interaction is very weak. We then study the stronger graphene/(2x2) interaction successively from the point of view of the graphene and the reconstruction states, in the direct and reciprocal space, using both our experimental and theoretical methods. Finally, we consider the impact of interfacial defects observed by STM through graphene/(2x2) islands and modelled with hydrogen adatoms on the electronic band structure and doping of graphene

The Asymmetric Spacer layer Tunnel (ASPAT) diode is a new diode invented in the early 90s as an alternative to the Schottky barrier diode (SBD) technology for microwave detector applications due to its highly stable temperature characteristics. The ASPAT features a strong non-linear I-V characteristic as a result of tunnelling through a thin barrier, which enables RF detection at zero bias from microwaves up to submillimetre wave frequencies. In this work, two heavily doped GaAs contact layer on top and bottom layers adjacent to lightly doped GaAs intermediate layers, enclose undoped GaAs spacers with different lengths sandwiching an undoped AlAs layer that acts as a tunnel barrier. The ultimate ambition of this work was to develop a MMIC detector as well as a frequency source based on optimized ASPAT diodes for millimetre wave (100GHz) applications. The effect of material parameter and dimensions on the ASPAT source performances was described using an empirical model for the first time. Since this is a new device, keys challenges in this work were to improve DC and RF characteristic as well as to develop a repeatable, reproducible, and ultimately manufacturable fabrication process flow. This was investigated using two approaches namely air-bridge and dielectric-bridge fabrication process flows. Through this work, it was found that the GaAs/AlAs heterostructures ASPAT diode are more amenable to the dielectric-bridge technique as large-scale fabrication of mesa area up to 4×4Âμm2 with device yields exceeding 80% routinely produced. The fabrication of the ASPAT using i-line optical lithography which has the capability to reduce emitter area to 4×4Âμm2 to lower down the device capacitance for millimetre wave application has been made feasible in this work. The former challenge was extensively studied through materials and structural characterisations by a SILVACO physical modelling and confirmed by comparison with experimental data. The I-V characteristic of the fabricated ASPAT demonstrated outstanding scalability, demonstrating robust processing. A fair comparison has been made between ASPAT and SBD fabricated in-house; indicating ASPAT is extremely stable to the temperature. The RF characterisations were carried out with the aid of Keysight ADS software. The DC characteristic from fabricated GaAs/AlAs ASPAT diodes were absorbed into an ADS simulation tool and utilized to demonstrate the performance of MMIC 100GHz detector as well as 20GHz/40GHz signal generators. Zero bias ASPAT with mesa area of 4×4Âμm2 with video resistance of 90KΩ, junction capacitance of 23fF and curvature coefficient of 23V-1 has demonstrated detector voltage sensitivity above 2000V/W, while the signal source conversion loss and conversion efficiency are 28dB and 0.3% respectively. An estimate noise equivalent power (NEP) for this particular device is 18.8pW/Hz1/2.

No description available.