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Free Radical Chemistries at the Surface of Electronic Materials

Description: The focus of the following research was to (1) understand the chemistry involved in nitriding an organosilicate glass substrate prior to tantalum deposition, as well as the effect nitrogen incorporation plays on subsequent tantalum deposition and (2) the reduction of a native oxide, the removal of surface contaminants, and the etching of a HgCdTe surface utilizing atomic hydrogen. These studies were investigated utilizing XPS, TEM and AFM. XPS data show that bombardment of an OSG substrate with… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Wilks, Justin
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Free Radical Induced Oxidation, Reduction and Metallization of NiSi and Ni(Pt)Si Surfaces

Description: NiSi and Ni(Pt)Si, and of the effects of dissociated ammonia on oxide reduction was carried out under controlled ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) conditions. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been used to characterize the evolution of surface composition. Vicinal surfaces on NiSi and Ni(Pt)Si were formed in UHV by a combination of Ar+ sputtering and thermal annealing. Oxidation of these surfaces in the presence of either O+O2 or pure O2 at room temperature results in the initial formation of a S… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Manandhar, Sudha
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Forensic Science Applications Utilizing Nanomanipulation-Coupled to Nanospray Ionization-Mass Spectrometry for the Analysis of Ultra-Trace Illicit Drugs

Description: Presented in this thesis are two methods that are coupled to the instrumentation for the recovery and analysis of ultra-trace illicit drug residues. The electrostatic dust lifting process is coupled with nanomanipulation-nanospray ionization to retrieve drug particles off of hard surfaces for analysis. For the second method, drug residues from fingerprint impressions are extracted followed by analysis. The methodology of these hyphenated techniques toward forensic science applications is applie… more
Date: December 2010
Creator: Wallace, Nicole
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Soft Landing Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry: History, Instrumentation and an Ambient Pressure Application

Description: Preparative mass spectrometry is an important method for the synthesis of new materials. Recently, soft landing mass spectrometry has been used to land ions on surfaces to coat or otherwise alter them. Commercial soft landing instruments do not yet exist, and the physical phenomenon of soft landing has not yet been fully described. For future ion mobility soft landing research, the theory of ion mobility, ion optics and soft landing is discussed, and 2 soft landing instruments have been built a… more
Date: December 2010
Creator: Birdwell, David
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Surface Chemical Deposition of Advanced Electronic Materials

Description: The focus of this work was to examine the direct plating of Cu on Ru diffusion barriers for use in interconnect technology and the substrate mediated growth of graphene on boron nitride for use in advanced electronic applications. The electrodeposition of Cu on Ru(0001) and polycrystalline substrates (with and without pretreatment in an iodine containing solution) has been studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV), current-time transient measurements (CTT), in situ electrochemical atomic force microsc… more
Date: December 2010
Creator: Bjelkevig, Cameron
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Development of an Analytical Microwave Electromagnetic Pulse Transmission Probe and Preliminary Test Results

Description: Within this educational endeavor instrumental development was explored through the investigation of microwave induce stable electromagnetic waves within a non-linear yttrium iron garnet ferromagnetic waveguide. The resulting magnetostatic surface waves were investigated as a possible method of rapid analytical evaluation of material composition. Initial analytical results indicate that the interaction seen between wave and material electric and magnetic fields will allow phase coherence recover… more
Date: May 2011
Creator: Griffith, William Francis
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Characterization of Novel Solvents and Absorbents for Chemical Separations

Description: Predictive methods have been employed to characterize chemical separation mediums including solvents and absorbents. These studies included creating Abraham solvation parameter models for room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) utilizing novel ion-specific and group contribution methodologies, polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS) utilizing standard methodology, and the micelles cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) utilizing a combined experimental setup methodology with … more
Date: May 2011
Creator: Grubbs, Laura Michelle Sprunger
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Design and Development of Soft Landing Ion Mobility: A Novel Instrument for Preparative Material Development

Description: The design and fabrication of a novel soft landing instrument Soft Landing Ion Mobility (SLIM) is described here. Topics covered include history of soft landing, gas phase mobility theory, the design and fabrication of SLIM, as well as applications pertaining to soft landing. Principle applications devised for this instrument involved the gas phase separation and selection of an ionized component from a multicomponent gas phase mixture as combing technique to optimize coatings, catalyst, and a … more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Davila, Stephen Juan
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Cu Electrodeposition on Ru-Ta and Corrosion of Plasma Treated Cu in Post Etch Cleaning Solution

Description: In this work, the possibility of Cu electrodeposition on Ru-Ta alloy thin films is explored. Ru and Ta were sputter deposited on Si substrate with different composition verified by RBS. Four point probe, XRD, TEM and AFM were used to study the properties of Ru-Ta thin films such as sheet resistance, crystallinity, grain size, etc. Cyclic voltammetry is used to study the Cu electrodeposition characteristics on Ru-Ta after various surface pretreatments. The results provide insights on the rem… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Sundararaju Meenakshiah Pillai, Karthikeyan
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Boron Nitride by Atomic Layer Deposition: A Template for Graphene Growth

Description: The growth of single and multilayer BN films on several substrates was investigated. A typical atomic layer deposition (ALD) process was demonstrated on Si(111) substrate with a growth rate of 1.1 Å/cycle which showed good agreement with the literature value and a near stoichiometric B/N ratio. Boron nitride films were also deposited by ALD on Cu poly crystal and Cu(111) single crystal substrates for the first time, and a growth rate of ~1ML/ALD cycle was obtained with a B/N ratio of ~2. The re… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Zhou, Mi
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Interfacial Electrochemistry of Copper and Spectro-Electrochemical Characterization of Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Description: The first part of this dissertation highlights the contents of the electrochemical characterization of Cu and its electroplating on Ru-based substrates. The growth of Ru native oxide does diminish the efficiency of Cu plating on Ru surface. However, the electrochemical formed irreversible Ru hydrate dioxide (RuOxHy) shows better coverage of Cu UPD. The conductive Ru oxides are directly plateable liner materials as potential diffusion barriers for the IC fabrication. The part II of this disserta… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Yu, Kyle Kai-Hung
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Molecular Structure Analyses of Asymmetric Hydrocarbon Liquid Compounds in the Gas Phase Using Chirped-pulse Fourier Transform Microwave Spectroscopy: Acyl Chlorides and Perfluorinated Acyl Chlorides

Description: Examinations of the effects of (a.) alkyl carbon chain length and (b.) perfluorination of acyl chlorides; propionyl chloride, butyryl chloride, valeroyl chloride, and perfluorinated acyl chlorides; perfluoropropionyl chloride and perfluorobutyryl chloride, are reported and compared using CP-FTMW spectroscopy. All of these molecules are already published in various journals except for valeroyl chloride. The chapters are organized by molecule alkyl chain length and include some background theory.… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Powoski, Robert A.
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Electrochemical Quartz Crystal Microbalance Study Of Bismuth Underpotential Deposition On Ruthenium And On Electrochemically Formed Ruthenium Oxide

Description: Kinetics and thermodynamics of bismuth (Bi) underpotential deposition (UPD) on ruthenium (Ru) and on electrochemically formed Ru oxide are studied using electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance technique. The Bi UPD and Bi bulk deposition are observed both on Ru and on electrochemically formed Ru oxide electrodes. The anodic peak potential of Bi UPD shifts slightly to positive potential as the scan rate increases. The peak current ratio (IAnode/ICathode) of Bi UPD and Bi bulk increases as th… more
Date: December 2011
Creator: Lin, Po-Fu
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Electrochemical Depostion of Bismuth on Ruthenium and Ruthenium Oxide Surfaces

Description: Cyclic voltammetry experiments were performed to compare the electrodeposition characteristics of bismuth on ruthenium. Two types of electrodes were used for comparison: a Ru shot electrode (polycrystalline) and a thin film of radio-frequency sputtered Ru on a Ti/Si(100) support. Experiments were performed in 1mM Bi(NO3)3/0.5M H2SO4 with switching potentials between -0.25 and 0.55V (vs. KCl sat. Ag/AgCl) and a 20mV/s scan rate. Grazing incidence x-ray diffraction (GIXRD) determined the freshly … more
Date: May 2012
Creator: Taylor, Daniel M.
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Experimental Determination of L, Ostwald Solubility Solute Descriptor for Illegal Drugs By Gas Chromatography and Analysis By the Abraham Model

Description: The experiment successfully established the mathematical correlations between the logarithm of retention time of illegal drugs with GC system and the solute descriptor L from the Abraham model. the experiment used the method of Gas Chromatography to analyze the samples of illegal drugs and obtain the retention time of each one. Using the Abraham model to calculate and analyze the sorption coefficient of illegal drugs is an effective way to estimate the drugs. Comparison of the experimental dat… more
Date: May 2012
Creator: Wang, Zhouxing
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Incorporating Electrochemistry and X-ray Diffraction Experiments Into an Undergraduate Instrumental Analysis Course

Description: Experiments were designed for an undergraduate instrumental analysis laboratory course, two in X-ray diffraction and two in electrochemistry. Those techniques were chosen due their underrepresentation in the Journal of Chemical Education. Paint samples (experiment 1) and pennies (experiment 2) were characterized using x-ray diffraction to teach students how to identify different metals and compounds in a sample. in the third experiment, copper from a penny was used to perform stripping analyses… more
Date: May 2012
Creator: Molina, Cathy
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Supramolecular Solar Cells

Description: Supramolecular chemistry - chemistry of non-covalent bonds including different type of intermolecular interactions viz., ion-pairing, ion-dipole, dipole-dipole, hydrogen bonding, cation-p and Van der Waals forces. Applications based on supramolecular concepts for developing catalysts, molecular wires, rectifiers, photochemical sensors have been evolved during recent years. Mimicking natural photosynthesis to build energy harvesting devices has become important for generating energy and solar f… more
Date: August 2012
Creator: Subbaiyan, Navaneetha Krishnan
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Study of Novel Ion/surface Interactions Using Soft-landing Ion Mobility

Description: Preparative mass spectrometry is a gas-phase ion deposition technique aimed at deposition of monodisperse ion beams on a surface. This is accomplished through the implementation of a soft-landing ion mobility system which allows for high ion flux of conformationally selected ion packets. The soft-landing ion mobility system has been applied to a number of unique chemical problems including the deposition of insulators on graphene, the preparation of reusable surface enhanced Raman spectroscop… more
Date: December 2012
Creator: Hoffmann, William Darryle
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Investigation of Novel Electrochemical Synthesis of Bioapatites and Use in Elemental Bone Analysis

Description: In this research, electrochemical methods are used to synthesize the inorganic fraction of bone, hydroxyapatite, for application in biological implants and as a calibration material for elemental analysis in human bone. Optimal conditions of electrochemically deposited uniform apatite coatings on stainless steel were investigated. Apatite is a ceramic with many different phases and compositions that have beneficial characteristics for biomedical applications. Of those phases hydroxyapatite (… more
Date: December 2012
Creator: DeLeon, Vallerie H.
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Electrochemically Deposited Metal Alloy-silicate Nanocomposite Corrosion Resistant Materials

Description: Zinc-nickel ?-phase silicate and copper-nickel silicate corrosion resistant coatings have been prepared via electrochemical methods to improve currently available corrosion resistant materials in the oil and gas industry. A layered silicate, montmorillonite, has been incorporated into the coatings for increased corrosion protection. For the zinc nickel silicate coatings, optimal plating conditions were determined to be a working pH range of 9.3 -9.5 with a borate based electrolyte solution, res… more
Date: May 2013
Creator: Conrad, Heidi Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Development of a Laponite Pluronic Composite for Foaming Applications

Description: The focus of the following research was to provide an optimized particle stabilized foam of Laponite and Pluronic L62 in water by understanding (1) the Laponite-Pluronic interactions and properties for improved performance in a particle stabilized foam and (2) the interfacial properties between air and the Laponite-Pluronic complex. These studies were conducted using both bulk and interfacial rheology, XRD, sessile droplet, TGA and UV-vis. Two novel and simple techniques, lamella break point an… more
Date: December 2012
Creator: Davis, James William
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Development of Novel Semi-conducting Ortho-carborane Based Polymer Films: Enhanced Electronic and Chemical Properties

Description: A novel class of semi-conducting ortho-carborane (B10C2H12) based polymer films with enhanced electronic and chemical properties has been developed. The novel films are formed from electron-beam cross-linking of condensed B10C2H12 and B10C2H12 co-condensed with aromatic linking units (Y) (Y=1,4-diaminobenzene (DAB), benzene (BNZ) and pyridine (PY)) at 110 K. The bonding and electronic properties of the novel films were investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV photoelectro… more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Pasquale, Frank L.
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Determination of Molecular Descriptors for Illegal Drugs by Gc-fid Using Abraham Solvation Model

Description: The Abraham solvation parameter model is a good approach for analyzing and predicting biological activities and partitioning coefficients. The general solvation equation has been used to predict the solute property (SP) behavior of drug compounds between biological barriers. Gas chromatography (GC) retention time can be used to predict molecular descriptors, such as E, S, A, B & L for existing and newly developed drug compounds. In this research, six columns of different stationary phases were … more
Date: December 2013
Creator: Akhter, Syeda Sabrina
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Substitution Effects of Phenothiazine and Porphyrin Dyes in Dye-sensitized Solar Cells

Description: The details of dye sensitized solar cells was explained and phenothiazine and porphyrin based dyes were synthesized for use in DSSCs. DSSCs offer a unique and cost effective method of renewable energy. DSSCs are characterized through various tests, with the overall efficiency, η, bearing the greatest importance. Incident photon to current conversion efficiency, or IPCE, is also another important characterization of DSSCs. Effect of positioning of the cyanoacrylic acid anchoring group on ring… more
Date: December 2013
Creator: Hart, Aaron S.
Partner: UNT Libraries
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