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Spring 2012
The chemical mechanical polishing of Copper (Cu-CMP) is a complex and poorly understood process. Despite this, it is widely used throughout the semiconductor and microelectronics industries, and makes up a significant portion of wafer processing costs. In these contexts, desirable polishing...
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Spring 2015
In many applications, it is desired to separate unwanted fine particulates from a liquid by gravity settling. An efficient separation, however, will be feasible only if a combination of aggregation and sedimentation occurs. To understand the kinetics of such a process, a mathematical model that...
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Spring 2021
At different stages during the extraction of bitumen from the Athabasca oil sands, the removal of unwanted fine solids whether suspended in aqueous or non-aqueous liquids continues to present serious challenges to the oil sands industry. These fine solids are unique in that their colloidal...
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Fall 2012
This thesis explored the properties of asphaltene nano-aggregates in crude oil and toluene based solutions and fouling at process furnace temperatures, and the links between these two phenomena. The link between stability of asphaltenes at ambient conditions and fouling at the conditions of a...
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Spring 2015
The minable oil sands extraction process can be understood on a scale of a single oil sand grain. When the oil sand ore is mixed with warm water, each sand granule is initially covered with bitumen film which ruptures under the composite effect of shear and interfacial forces, while water...
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Spring 2015
Colloidal-collector interactions are of fundamental importance in separation and filtration technologies. Here, the effect of collector grains on the behavior of colloidal particles was studied in two different experimental systems, i.e., column studies with stationary collectors and batch mixing...
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Colloid Science of Sand Remediation: A Study Motivated by the Non-Aqueous Extraction of Bitumen from Oil Sands
DownloadFall 2014
The current water-based method of bitumen extraction requires withdrawal of fresh water from the Athabasca River — a practice which leads to the continual buildup of tailings ponds and other environmental concerns. As Alberta’s bitumen production is expected to more than double by 2020, there is...
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Design and Fabrication of Fractal Photoconductive Terahertz Emitters and Antenna Coupled Tunnel Diode Terahertz Detectors
DownloadFall 2012
Improved terahertz (THz) photoconductive antennas that are able to both emit higher THz radiation power and detect lower THz radiation signal levels than the traditional THz photoconductive antennas are presented. Also, different classes of fractals are investigated to realize whether the...
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Spring 2023
Plasmonic nanostructures have received increasing attention due to their unique ability to mediate the conversion of light into different forms of energy. This opens pathways for numerous applications from ultrasensitive surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) materials characterization to...
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Spring 2013
Removal of a drop from its substrate may be gradually (e.g. evaporation) or all at once (e.g. shedding). In this thesis, drop adhesion force as a base for understanding the all at once removal of a drop from its substrate, and drop evaporation in room temperature as one of the gradual removal...