The ternary system (Bi₀.₅Na₀.₅)TiO₃-(Bi₀.₅K₀.₅)TiO₃-Bi(Mg₀.₅Ti₀.₅)O₃ (BNT-BKT-BMgT) was explored along the [75-(x 2) ]Bi₀.₅Na₀.₅TiO₃ - [25-(x 2)]Bi₀.₅K₀.₅TiO₃ - [x]Bi(Mg₀.₅Ti₀.₅)O₃ composition line. Thin films were fabricated using chelated mixing route solutions spin cast onto platinized silicon substrates. Processing parameters such as: excess cation molar%, solution molality, and crystallization temperatures, for composition where x=0,...
The cleanliness of water is a major issue with regards to humanity's continued survival. The chlorination and chloro-amination of water is essential to the creation of microbiologically clean water. However these processes also give rise to oxidative byproducts such as nitrosamines. In particular, due to its high toxicity, N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA)...
High performance dielectric materials are needed for high power SiC- or GaN-based electronics which combine the best features of high energy density, low dielectric loss and high reliability and for advanced high-speed and high-voltage energy storage where temperature stability plays an important role in material properties. An ideal capacitor for...
Automating pick-and-place operations for large steel castings in a foundry is challenging, particularly from a perception point of view. Accurately estimating the identity and orientation of a given part is an open and complex problem, especially if that part sits in a bin of very similar parts. The problem is...
New amplifier architectures are presented using non-traditional methods of biasing. Time-based dynamic biasing and signal-based dynamic biasing are discussed in the context of new architectures. This includes a new form of ring amplification with a dynamic deadzone, allowing for a structure whose coarse path does not consume static power.
The focus of this thesis is developing materials for thin-film transistors (TFTs). Cu₃SbS₄ is explored as p-channel layer. Cu₃SbS₄ TFTs show p-type, depletion-mode behavior with a small amount of gate-controlled modulation of the channel conductance. This behavior is consistent with Hall measurements indicating a mobility of 17 cm²V⁻¹s⁻¹ and hole...
This dissertation demonstrated that the electrical properties of complex oxide-based perovskite materials could be controlled through the careful modification of both material composition and structure. This was first shown through the modification of lead zirconate titanate (Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3, PZT) solid solutions with bismuth indate (BiInO3, BI) where the relative stability of...
Marine diatoms are unicellular photosynthetic organisms that produce unique nanomaterials, energy dense lipid-molecules, and specialty carbohydrate molecules that can be all extracted from a single microorganism. The centric marine diatom Cyclotella sp. was used as a model organism for cultivation in a biorefinery system, where multiple co-products can be harvested...
Polyoxometalates are discrete anionic oxo clusters of the Group V and VI transition metals that can be conceptualized as molecular metal oxides. Because they are pairable with any alkali cation, a great deal of fundamental chemistry can be gleaned from their study, including solubility trends and insight into cation binding...
In this dissertation, I describe the experimental investigation in electron diffraction of molecules in superfluid helium droplets. The project is part of an overall scheme called ‘single molecule serial electron diffraction imaging’ (SS-EDI), with the ultimate goal of building an apparatus to determine atomic structures from oriented macromolecules. In SS-EDI,...