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Within every process of electronic device fabrication and subsequent device use, there exists an inherent temperature limitation. This limitation can be part of a particular processing step or a target specification of device operation. To determine the temperature restrictions required by a device and its fabrication, the material system and target application of the resultant device must be assessed, as the thermal budget will vary based on both of these factors. If the temperature limit imposed on a device and its process becomes low enough, measures must be taken to ensure a reduction in thermal load is met without sacrificing the integrity of the constituent materials or the final device behavior. More specifically, these measures result in the development of low temperature materials deposition techniques, devices with reduced power consumption, or low temperature in-line processing techniques. In this dissertation, I will present solutions to circumvent temperature limitations in three areas: transparent flexible electronics, small-scale gas sensors for the Internet of Things (IoT), and back-end-of-line (BEOL) processing steps of state-of-the-art integrated circuits (ICs).First, in Chapter 2, a novel method of metal oxide material deposition for flexible thin film transistors (TFTs) will be discussed. Materials characterization indicates this material is of high quality suitable for flexible electronics, demonstrated via fabrication of fully transparent all-oxide flexible TFTs. Second, in Chapter 3, a chip-integratable pollutant gas sensor based on silicon transistors is discussed. Transistor-based gas sensing leverages IC manufacturing and enables low temperature operation, allowing for lower power consumption carbon monoxide sensors for air quality monitoring and personal pollution tracking. Lastly, Chapter 4 will present a novel low cost fully-BEOL-compatible nanoscale patterning method based on tilted ion implantation and conventional deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography. Utilizing silicon-containing spin-on films, patterns on the order of 20 nm are achieved, providing an alternative lithographic method for state-of-the-art transistor fabrication with nanoscale features.

This paper investigates the degree of pass-through from import prices and tariffs to wholesale prices in interwar Britain using a new high-frequency micro data set. The main results are: (i) Pass-through from import prices and tariffs to wholesale prices was economically and statistically significant. (ii) Despite devaluation, import prices exacerbated deflation in the early 1930s because of the global slump in export prices. (iii) Rising protection, however, was a mild stimulus to prices during the shift to inflation.

We use daily transactional ledger data from the Bank of England's Archive to test whether and to what extent the Bank of England during the mid-nineteenth century adhered to Walter Bagehot's rule that a central bank in a financial crisis should lend cash freely at a high interest rate in exchange for "good" securities. The archival data we use provides granular, loan-level insight on the price and quantity of credit, and information on its distribution to particular counterparties. We find that the Bank's behaviour during this period broadly conforms to Bagehot's rule, though with variation across the crises of 1847, 1857 and 1866. Using a new, higher frequency series on the Bank's balance sheet, we find that the Bank did lend freely, with the number of discounts and advances increasing during crises. These loans were typically granted at a rate above pre-crisis levels and, in 1857 and 1866, typically at a spread above Bank Rate, though we also find some instances in the daily discount ledgers where individual loans were made below Bank rate in 1847. Another set of customer ledgers shows that the securities the Bank purchased were debts owed by a geographically and industrially diverse set of debtors. And using new data on the Bank's income and dividends, we find the Bank and its shareholders profited from lender of last resort operations. We conclude our paper by relating our findings to contemporary debates including those regarding the provision of emergency liquidity to shadow banks.

Money is essential to the workings of a modern economy, but its nature has varied substantially over time. This article provides an introduction to what money is today. Money today is a type of IOU, but one that is special because everyone in the economy trusts that it will be accepted by other people in exchange for goods and services. There are three main types of money: currency, bank deposits and central bank reserves. Each represents an IOU from one sector of the economy to another. Most money in the modern economy is in the form of bank deposits, which are created by commercial banks themselves.

This article explains how the majority of money in the modern economy is created by commercial banks making loans. Money creation in practice differs from some popular misconceptions — banks do not act simply as intermediaries, lending out deposits that savers place with them, and nor do they ‘multiply up’ central bank money to create new loans and deposits. The amount of money created in the economy ultimately depends on the monetary policy of the central bank. In normal times, this is carried out by setting interest rates. The central bank can also affect the amount of money directly through purchasing assets or ‘quantitative easing’.

This article reviews the main influences on broad money growth since the onset of the global crisis, focusing on the impact of the Monetary Policy Committee’s asset purchase programme (QE). The underlying weakness in money growth is likely to have reflected a combination of reduced nominal demand and a restructuring of banks’ balance sheets. QE has played a key role in offsetting some of this weakness and in a way that has not depended on an increase in bank lending. The first two rounds of QE seem to have had a similar proportionate impact on the money supply, but there is some evidence that the transmission mechanism of QE may have been different over the two episodes.

The growth of broad money in the UK economy has slowed dramatically since the start of the recession. In part, that weakness reflects reduced borrowing by households and companies during the recession. But money balances held by asset managers also fell as deposits were used to purchase new equity and long-term debt issued by the banking sector in response to the financial crisis. Offsetting the weakness from these two factors was the programme of asset purchases — so-called ‘quantitative easing’ or QE — conducted by the Bank of England on behalf of the Monetary Policy Committee, which boosted broad money holdings. The evidence from the monetary data suggests that the programme of asset purchases contributed to an increase in asset prices and, ultimately, an increase in nominal demand in the economy, corroborating other evidence from financial market prices.

The Quarterly Bulletin has a long tradition of using historical data to help analyse the latest developments in the UK economy. To mark the Bulletin’s 50th anniversary, this article places the recent UK recession in a long-run historical context. It draws on the extensive literature on UK economic history and analyses a wide range of macroeconomic and financial data going back to the 18th century. The UK economy has undergone major structural change over this period but such historical comparisons can provide lessons for the current economic situation.

This paper is the second part of a study on the determinants of the broad money aggregate M4, following a similar analysis of the personal sector developed in Working Paper No 61. It models the broad money holdings of both industrial and commercial companies (ICCs) and other financial institutions (OFIs) in the UK, and examines what role they play in the transmission mechanism. ICCs are shown to have both a transactions and a portfolio motive for holding money. A three-equation model of money, investment and the cost of capital is estimated, and the results suggest the existence of a corporate sector liquidity channel whereby firms' "excess" money balances have a negative influence on the cost of capital and a positive impact on investment spending. OFIs' money holdings are shown to depend upon wealth and relative rates of return, in line with standard portfolio models of money demand. But as OFIs are the chief counterparts to banks' liability management activity, their money holdings are also modelled jointly with deposit rates.