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open access

Design Considerations and Implementation of Portable Mass Spectrometers for Environmental Applications

Description: Portable mass spectrometers provide a unique opportunity to obtain in situ measurements. This minimizes need for sample collection or in laboratory analysis. Membrane Inlet Mass Spectrometry (MIMS) utilizing a semi permeable membrane for selective rapid introduction for analysis. Polydimethylsiloxane membranes have been proven to be robust in selecting for aromatic chemistries. Advances in front end design have allowed for increased sensitivity, rapid sample analysis, and on line measurements. … more
Date: May 2017
Creator: Mach, Phillip M.
open access

Chemical and Electronic Structure of Aromatic/Carborane Composite Films by PECVD for Neutron Detection

Description: Boron carbide-aromatic composites, formed by plasma-enhanced co-deposition of carboranes and aromatic precursors, present enhanced electron-hole separation as neutron detector. This is achieved by aromatic coordination to the carborane icosahedra and results in improved neutron detection efficiency. Photoemission (XPS) and FTIR suggest that chemical bonding between B atoms in icosahedra and aromatic contents with preservation of π system during plasma process. XPS, UPS, density functional theo… more
Date: December 2016
Creator: Dong, Bin
open access

Direct Atomic Level Controlled Growth and Characterization of h-BN and Graphene Heterostructures on Magnetic Substrates for Spintronic Applications

Description: Epitaxial multilayer h-BN(0001) heterostructures and graphene/h-BN heterostructures have many potential applications in spintronics. The use of h-BN and graphene require atomically precise control and azimuthal alignment of the individual layers in the structure. These in turn require fabrication of devices by direct scalable methods rather than physical transfer of BN and graphene flakes, and such scalable methods are also critical for industrially compatible development of 2D devices. The … more
Date: August 2016
Creator: Beatty, John D.
open access

Forensic Analysis of Ink on Documents Using Direct Analyte-Probed Nanoextraction Coupled Techniques

Description: Analzying questioned documents in a nondestructive nature has been an issue for the forensic science community. Using nondestructive techniques such as video spectral comparator does not give reliable information due to the variations in gray or color levels that are distinguished differently by analysts. Destructive techniques such as chromatography give dependable, qualitative and quantitative, information but involves altering the evidentiary value of these questioned documents. The paradox … more
Date: May 2016
Creator: Huynh, Vivian
open access

Interfacial Electrochemistry of Cu/Al Alloys for IC Packaging and Chemical Bonding Characterization of Boron Doped Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Films for Infrared Cameras

Description: We focused on a non-cooling room temperature microbolometer infrared imaging array device which includes a sensing layer of p-type a-Si:H component layers doped with boron. Boron incorporation and bonding configuration were investigated for a-Si:H films grown by plasma enhanced chemical deposition (PECVD) at varying substrate temperatures, hydrogen dilution of the silane precursor, and dopant to silane ratio using multiple internal reflection infrared spectroscopy (MIR-IR). This study was then … more
Date: May 2016
Creator: Ross, Nick
open access

Direct Inject Mass Spectrometry for Illicit Chemistry Detection and Characterization

Description: The field of direct inject mass spectrometry includes a massive host of ambient ionization techniques that are especially useful for forensic analysts. Whether the sample is trace amounts of drugs or explosives or bulk amounts of synthetic drugs from a clandestine laboratory, the analysis of forensic evidence requires minimal sample preparation, evidence preservation, and high sensitivity. Direct inject mass spectrometry techniques can rarely provide all of these. Direct analyte-probed nanoe… more
Date: May 2016
Creator: Williams, Kristina Charlene
open access

Electrodeposited Metal Matrix Composites for Enhanced Corrosion Protection and Mechanical Properties

Description: In the oil and gas industry, high corrosion resistance and hardness are needed to extend the lifetime of the coatings due to exposure to high stress and salt environments. Electrodeposition has become a favorable technique in synthesizing coatings because of low cost, convenience, and the ability to work at low temperatures. Electrodeposition of metal matrix composites has become popular for enhanced corrosion resistance and hardness in the oil and gas industry because of the major problems tha… more
Date: May 2016
Creator: Thurber, Casey Ray
open access

Lipidomic Analysis of Single Cells and Organelles Using Nanomanipulation Coupled to Mass Spectrometry

Description: The capability to characterize disease states by way of determining novel biomarkers has led to a high demand of single cell and organelle analytical methodologies due to the unexpected heterogeneity present in cells of the same type. Lipids are of particular interest in the search for biomarkers due to their active roles in cellular metabolism and energy storage. Analyzing localized lipid chemistry from individual cells and organelles is challenging however, due to low analyte volume, limited … more
Date: May 2016
Creator: Bowman, Amanda
open access

Investigation of Post-Plasma Etch Fluorocarbon Residue Characterization, Removal and Plasma-Induced Low-K Damage for Advanced Interconnect Applications

Description: Modern three-dimensional integrated circuit design is rapidly evolving to more complex architecture. With continuous downscaling of devices, there is a pressing need for metrology tool development for rapid but efficient process and material characterization. In this dissertation work, application of a novel multiple internal reflection infrared spectroscopy metrology is discussed in various semiconductor fabrication process development. Firstly, chemical bonding structure of thin fluorocarbon … more
Date: May 2016
Creator: Mukherjee, Tamal
open access

Characterization of Post-Plasma Etch Residues and Plasma Induced Damage Evaluation on Patterned Porous Low-K Dielectrics Using MIR-IR Spectroscopy

Description: As the miniaturization of functional devices in integrated circuit (IC) continues to scale down to sub-nanometer size, the process complexity increases and makes materials characterization difficult. One of our research effort demonstrates the development and application of novel Multiple Internal Reflection Infrared Spectroscopy (MIR-IR) as a sensitive (sub-5 nm) metrology tool to provide precise chemical bonding information that can effectively guide through the development of more efficient … more
Date: May 2016
Creator: Rimal, Sirish
open access

Fundamental Studies of Copper Corrosion in Interconnect Fabrication Process and Spectroscopic Investigation of Low-k Structures

Description: In the first part of this dissertation, copper bimetallic corrosion and its inhibition in cleaning processes involved in interconnect fabrication is explored. In microelectronics fabrication, post chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) cleaning is required to remove organic contaminants and particles left on copper interconnects after the CMP process. Use of cleaning solutions, however, causes serious reliability issues due to corrosion and recession of the interconnects. In this study, different … more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Goswami, Arindom
open access

Novel Carborane Derived Semiconducting Thin Films for Neutron Detection and Device Applications

Description: Novel carborane (B10C2H12) and aromatic compounds (benzene, pyridine, diaminobenzene) copolymers and composite materials have been fabricated by electron beam induced cross-linking and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) respectively. Chemical and electronic structure of these materials were studied using X-ray and ultra-violet photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS and UPS). UPS suggest that the systematic tuning of electronic structure can be achieved by using different aromatic compou… more
Date: August 2015
Creator: James, Robinson
open access

Electrochemical Synthesis and Applications of Layered Double Hydroxides and Derivatives

Description: Layered double hydroxides (LDH) are a class of anionic clay with alternating layers of positive and negative charge. A metal hydroxide layer with divalent and trivalent metals with a positive charge is complemented by an interlayer region containing anions and water with a negative charge. The anions can be exchanged under favorable conditions. Hydrotalcite (Mg6Al2(OH)16[CO3]·4H2O) and other variations are naturally occurring minerals. Synthetic LDH can be prepared as a powder or film by numero… more
Date: August 2015
Creator: Kahl, Michael S.
open access

The Effect of Plasma on Silicon Nitride, Oxynitride and Other Metals for Enhanced Epoxy Adhesion for Packaging Applications

Description: The effects of direct plasma chemistries on carbon removal from silicon nitride (SiNx) and oxynitride (SiOxNy ) surfaces and Cu have been studied by x-photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and ex-situ contact angle measurements. The data indicate that O2,NH3 and He capacitively coupled plasmas are effective at removing adventitious carbon from silicon nitride (SiNx) and Silicon oxynitride (SiOxNy ) surfaces. O2plasma and He plasma treatment results in the formation of silica overlayer. In contrast,… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Gaddam, Sneha Sen
open access

Characterization of Ionic Liquid Solvents Using a Temperature Independent, Ion-Specific Abraham Parameter Model

Description: Experimental data for the logarithm of the gas-to-ionic liquid partition coefficient (log K) have been compiled from the published literature for over 40 ionic liquids over a wide temperature range. Temperature independent correlations based on the Gibbs free energy equation utilizing known Abraham solvation model parameters have been derived for the prediction of log K for 12 ionic liquids to within a standard deviation of 0.114 log units over a temperature range of over 60 K. Temperature inde… more
Date: December 2014
Creator: Stephens, Timothy W.
open access

Electrodeposition of Nickel and Nickel Alloy Coatings with Layered Silicates for Enhanced Corrosion Resistance and Mechanical Properties

Description: The new nickel/layered silicate nanocomposites were electrodeposited from different pHs to study the influence on the metal ions/layered silicate plating solution and on the properties of the deposited films. Nickel/layered silicate nanocomposites were fabricated from citrate bath atacidic pHs (1.6−3.0), from Watts’ type solution (pH ~4-5), and from citrate bath at basic pH (~9). Additionally, the new nickel/molybdenum/layered silicate nanocomposites were electrodeposited from citrate bath at p… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Tientong, Jeerapan
open access

Fundamental Studies of Copper Bimetallic Corrosion in Ultra Large Scale Interconnect Fabrication Process

Description: In this work, copper bimetallic corrosion and inhibition in ultra large scale interconnect fabrication process is explored. Corrosion behavior of physical vapor deposited (PVD) copper on ruthenium on acidic and alkaline solutions was investigated with and without organic inhibitors. Bimetallic corrosion screening experiments were carried out to determine the corrosion rate. Potentiodynamic polarization experiments yielded information on the galvanic couples and also corrosion rates. XPS and FTI… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Koskey, Simon Kibet
open access

A Study of Silver: an Alternative Maldi Matrix for Low Weight Compounds and Mass Spectrometry Imaging

Description: Soft-landing ion mobility has applicability in a variety of areas. The ability to produce material and collect a sufficient amount for further analysis and applications is the key goal of this technique. Soft-landing ion mobility has provided a way to deposit material in a controllable fashion, and can be tailored to specific applications. Changing the conditions at which soft-landing ion mobility occurs effects the characteristics of the resulting particles (size, distribution/coverage on t… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Walton, Barbara Lynn
open access

Interfacial Characterization of Chemical Vapor Deposition (Cvd) Grown Graphene and Electrodeposited Bismuth on Ruthenium Surface

Description: Graphene receives enormous attention owing to its distinctive physical and chemical prosperities. Growing and transferring graphene to different substrates have been investigated. The graphene growing on the copper substrate has an advantage of low solubility of carbon on the copper which allow us to grow mostly monolayer graphene. Graphene sheet of few centimeters can be transferred to 300nm silicon oxide and quartz crystal pre-deposited with metal like Cu and Ru. Characterization of the gra… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Abdelghani, Jafar
open access

Carbon Nanostructure Based Donor-acceptor Systems for Solar Energy Harvesting

Description: Carbon nanostructure based functional hybrid molecules hold promise in solarenergy harvesting. Research presented in this dissertation systematically investigates building of various donor-acceptor nanohybrid systems utilizing enriched single walled carbon nanotube and graphene with redox and photoactive molecules such as fullerene, porphyrin, and phthalocyanine. Design, synthesis, and characterization of the donor-acceptor hybrid systems have been carefully performed via supramolecular binding… more
Date: December 2013
Creator: Das, Sushanta Kumar
open access

Miniature Mass Spectrometry: Theory, Development and Applications

Description: As mass analyzer technology has continued to improve over the last fifty years, the prospect of field-portable mass spectrometers has garnered interest from many research groups and organizations. Designing a field portable instrument entails more than the scaling down of current commercial systems. Additional considerations such as power consumption, vacuum requirements and ruggedization also play key roles. In this research, two avenues were pursued in the initial development of a portable… more
Date: December 2013
Creator: Fox, James D.
open access

Analysis of PAH and PCB Emissions from the Combustion of dRDF and the Nondestructive Analysis of Stamp Adhesives

Description: This work includes two unrelated areas of research. The first portion of this work involved combusting densified refuse derived fuel (dRDF) with coal and studying the effect that Ca(0H)2 binder had on reducing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) emissions. The second area of work was directed at developing nondestructive infrared techniques in order to aid in the analysis of postage stamp adhesives. With Americans generating 150-200 million tons a year of Mu… more
Date: May 1989
Creator: Poslusny, Matthew
open access

The Quantitative Determination of Glass in Slag and Fly Ash by Infrared Spectroscopy

Description: The present study was aimed at developing a new inexpensive and accurate analytical method for determining the glass content of slag and fly ash. Infrared absorption spectroscopy using an internal standard proved to be the method of choice. Both synthetic and commercial slags and fly ashes were investigated.
Date: December 1983
Creator: Eberendu, Alexis N. R.
open access

Model Development for the Catalytic Calcination of Calcium Carbonate

Description: Lime is one of the largest manufactured chemicals in the United States. The conversion of calcium carbonate into calcium oxide is an endothermic reaction and requires approximately two to four times the theoretical quantity of energy predicted from thermodynamic analysis. With the skyrocketing costs of fossil fuels, how to decrease the energy consumption in the calcination process has become a very important problem in the lime industry. In the present study, many chemicals including lithium ca… more
Date: December 1987
Creator: Huang, Jin-Mo
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