Matching Items (219)
Description
The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of low-cost, mixed-signal integrated circuit design for educational and research purposes. This paper presents the design and prototyping of an 8-bit SAR ADC (Successive Approximation Register Analog to Digital Converter) and surrounding circuit, but is focused on the open source softwares used in its development. The circuit is all developed using entirely open-source tools with the goal to be fabricated via the TinyTapeout service. The project employs Icarus Verilog, KiCad, Qspice, Arduino, and Python for design, simulation, and system-level modeling. Our results indicate the unpredictable nature of working with less known companies and applications as well as the viability of completing the circuit design process in this way. These applications generally have less capability than proprietary circuit design flows and it is up to the engineer to learn these tools. The work highlights both the potential and the limitations of current open-source IC design ecosystems and provides a model for future educational implementations in chip design.
ContributorsWiberg, Vance (Author) / Darnall, Michael (Co-author) / Yu, Hongbin (Thesis director) / Doyle, Jim (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2025-05
DescriptionKALE’s Catered Vending maximizes revenue by offering customized vending solutions that align with the unique preferences of each location’s customer base.
ContributorsHack, Landon (Author) / Richardson, Kyle (Co-author) / Hecker, Alexander (Co-author) / Buxton, Emma (Co-author) / Byrne, Jared (Thesis director) / Giles, Bret (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2025-05
Description
This thesis explores the use of Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (MOS) capacitors in a patch resonator structure for real-time, in-vivo radiation therapy dosimetry, with a specific focus on the effects of Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR). MOS capacitors serve as radiation dependent elements, detecting dosage through shifts in resonant frequency. Exposure to ionizing radiation generates electron-hole pairs in the oxide layer, resulting in trapped charge that alters the capacitance-voltage (C–V) characteristics. This results in a change in resonant frequency, ultimately, changing the Radar Cross Section of the system. These variations can be detected through RF interrogation, enabling wireless dose monitoring. The resonator, composed of a patch antenna and MOS capacitors connected in parallel, is modeled as a band-pass filter to evaluate its frequency-selective behavior. The central challenge addressed in this work is the presence of ESR in the MOS capacitors, which diminishes resonant performance by flattening the gain and reducing sensitivity. This study presents ESR measurements for devices with oxide thicknesses of 250 μm and 500 μm, supported by simulations and theoretical analysis. The results quantify the impact of ESR on system behavior and provide design recommendations to reduce ESR, ultimately improving the accuracy and effectiveness of wireless dosimetry systems in clinical radiation therapy.
ContributorsGolab, Brennan (Author) / Barnaby, Hugh (Thesis director) / Aberle, James (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2025-05
DescriptionTo research how green light therapy at a wavelength of 520-540 nm will help significantly reduce migraines and light discomfort in patients experiencing photophobia.
ContributorsLee, Amber (Author) / Sharp, Nina (Thesis director) / Au, Oliver (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2025-05
DescriptionKALE's Catered Vending maximizes revenue by offering customized vending solutions that align with the unique preferences of each location's customer base.
ContributorsBuxton, Emma (Author) / Hecker, Alex (Co-author) / Hack, Landon (Co-author) / Richardson, Kyle (Co-author) / Byrne, Jared (Thesis director) / Giles, Bret (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2025-05
Description
The efficient management of power distribution infrastructure is critical for ensuring reliable electricity delivery. This thesis presents SmartPower Manager, a smart data collection and modeling mobile application designed to streamline the process of tracking and modeling power system components in distribution networks. SmartPower Manager utilizes QR code nameplate labels attached to newly installed equipment to capture key equipment specifications. The application processes these QR codes and automatically updates a centralized database, which contains data about equipment location, model information, and operational parameters. Furthermore, the system integrates with OpenDSS by automatically updating OpenDSS models with the new equipment. The system was developed using Python for backend processing and Flet for the frontend interface.
ContributorsJahan, Zara (Author) / Wu, Meng (Thesis director) / Khorsand, Mojdeh (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2025-05
Description
This paper presents the design and evaluation of a novel MOS-based wireless dosimeter for
radiation therapy applications. The device leverages the radiation-induced C-V (capacitance
voltage) shift in MOS capacitors with an increasing total ionizing dose. Both simulations and a
proof-of-concept prototype demonstrate that changes in resonant frequency, due to changing
capacitance, can be used to wirelessly detect radiation dosage. A custom capacitor fabrication process was developed to create various size capacitors. The equivalent series resistance (ESR) of these capacitors was later improved by using a recipe with thinner wafers. Experimental results confirm the feasibility of frequency-based sensing; however, passive wireless operation remains unattainable due to insufficient range along the y-axis of the C-V curve. A revised capacitor design, with different metal layers, is proposed and evaluated through simulation. Changing the metal shows promise for allowing for the passive operation of the device. Overall, these findings suggest that MOS capacitors offer a promising path toward real-time, wireless dose monitoring, though additional optimization and testing are needed before clinical integration.
ContributorsSkaggs, Emma (Author) / Barnaby, Hugh (Thesis director) / Sanchez Esqueda, Ivan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2025-05
Description
The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of low-cost, mixed-signal integrated circuit design for educational and research purposes. This paper presents the design and prototyping of an 8-bit SAR ADC (Successive Approximation Register Analog to Digital Converter) and surrounding circuit, but is focused on the open source softwares used in its development. The circuit is all developed using entirely open-source tools with the goal to be fabricated via the TinyTapeout service. The project employs Icarus Verilog, KiCad, Qspice, Arduino, and Python for design, simulation, and system-level modeling. Our results indicate the unpredictable nature of working with less known companies and applications as well as the viability of completing the circuit design process in this way. These applications generally have less capability than proprietary circuit design flows and it is up to the engineer to learn these tools. The work highlights both the potential and the limitations of current open-source IC design ecosystems and provides a model for future educational implementations in chip design.
ContributorsDarnall, Michael (Author) / Wiberg, Vance (Co-author) / Yu, Hongbin (Thesis director) / Doyle, Jim (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2025-05
Description
Conventional four-point-probe (4PP) stations achieve high-accuracy sheet-resistance measurements but often lack the ability to perform mapping across an area of a sample. Commercial tools also feature a large (80-100 mil) probe spacing, which limits the spatial resolution of the sheet-resistance measurement.We retrofitted an R-θ-Z wafer stage with a 3-D-printed probe head and spring-loaded, 410 µm-diameter gold pins, controlled through a new Python automation stack, to build a wafer-mapper. While the gold probe pins work well on metal films, sheet-resistance measurements on silicon samples require the probe tips to mechanically pierce the native SiO₂ that spontaneously grows on silicon wafers. For device-grade specimens this mechanical scratching is undesirable,because it could lead to the introduction of mechanical defects. Initial experiments were conducted that applied high-voltage (≤ 105V), low-current (≤ 1 mA) pulses to break down the oxide electrically. However, tip deformation increased the effective contact area, raising the breakdown voltage beyond practical limits and preventing reliable contact formation, causing large variations in the mapping data. We therefore explored a contact-less eddy-current approach using a single-loop RF coil. The RF excitation signal was swept from 100 kHz to 6 GHz while its complex reflection coefficient ( S₁₁ ) was captured. The resulting resonance-splitting or “fan-out” of S₁₁ spectra correlates monotonically with the sheet resistivity of test wafers (1-140 Ω □⁻¹). LTSpice models of the coil-wafer system reproduced the measured trends, lending confidence that calibrated peak-tracking can yield quantitative resistivity maps. This work demonstrates the feasibility of a hybrid probe station that performs non-contact characterization of bulk silicon samples. In future iterations this characterization technique can also be applied to thin-film measurements. Key design lessons and an outline for refining the probe head and extraction algorithms are presented.
ContributorsStringer, Evan (Author, Co-author) / Goryll, Michael (Thesis director) / Celano, Umberto (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2025-05