Novel temperature sensor fabricated with oxide and metal

Resistance of metal depends on temperature. Therefore, the metal can be used as a temperature sensor with a reference resistor. The reference resistor is connected serially and the voltages of the sensor metal are measured after applying DC voltage. However, it is not easy to keep the reference resistance constant while measuring temperatures. We studied the temperature dependence of resistance of oxide material to apply it to the bridge type temperature sensor which is insensitive to the environmental temperature. We made bridge type temperature sensor with oxide material and metal. The novel temperature sensor does not need a reference resistor, and composed of oxide and metal. Therefore, we could remove error induced by environmental temperature variation. Moreover, the novel bridge type temperature sensor provides higher sensitivity than conventional sensor structure. By different thermal coefficient of the oxide material, it was possible to remove an external reference resistance. The proposed bridge type temperature sensor is a self-reference temperature sensor which is insensitive to the environmental temperature. © (2011) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.