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Fabrication of Surface Electrode Type • Disks: Disk type thermistors are made by com-
Thermistors pressing a blend of oxide powders in a round die
using presses similar to those used for making
The manufacturing methods used for thermistors
powdered metal parts or pharmaceutical tablets.
that have metallized surface contacts are very
The “green” disks are then sintered at high
similar to those used for ceramic capacitors. The temperatures.
most commonly used types are shown in
Figure <3>. Electrodes are applied to the flat surfaces using
spraying or screen printing techniques. The diame-
The metallized surface contact type thermistors ter of a disk thermistor may be adjusted to a
can be fabricated by any of several different prescribed size using a centerless grinder. In this
methods depending upon the basic geometry of the manner, the resistance of the disk may be adjusted
device. Once the desired geometry has been to a nominal value. Diameters of disk thermistors
obtained, the devices are sintered. The metallized range from 0.030” (0.75 mm) to 1.0” (25.4 mm).
surface contact is then applied by spraying, painting, Disk type thermistors with diameters of less than
screen printing, sputtering or dipping as required 0.4” are typically used for low cost thermometry and
and the contact is fired onto the ceramic body. temperature compensation applications, while those
Some further adjustments may be made to the with diameters greater than 0.4” are used for inrush
geometry of the device to provide for close tolerance current limiting, surge suppression and time delay
on resistance or interchangeability. applications.
Metallized surface contact type thermistors can • Chips: NTC chip thermistors are usually
be obtained with axial leads, radial leads or leadless. fabricated using a “tape-casting” or “doctor-blading”
A variety of organic coatings are available for the process in which a slurry of material is spread out
metallized surface contact types. Very small chips into a thick film sheet similar to the process used for
are available with glass encapsulation and small making chip capacitors or ceramic substrates. The
disks and chips can also be obtained in a “diode ceramic sheet material is then subjected to a
package”, so named because the glass body meets controlled drying cycle. In the “green” state, the
d HA dT dT
= sm =C dT -δ
dt dt dt (4) = (T-TA)
dt C (8)
There are three basic electrical characteristics Once a self-heated thermistor has reached a
that account for virtually all of the applications in condition of equilibrium, the rate of heat loss from
which NTC thermistors may be used. the device will be equal to the power supplied. It is
mathematically expressed by equation (7).
a) Current-Time Characteristic If the dissipation constant variations are negligible
b) Voltage-Current Characteristic for a specified medium and set of conditions, and
the resistance-temperature characteristic is known,
c) Resistance-Temperature Characteristic
then equation (7) can be solved for the static
voltage-current characteristic. This characteristic
There are also several applications where the NTC can be plotted on log-log coordinates where lines of
thermistor is indirectly heated by resistive devices constant resistance have a slope of +1 and lines of
or even other thermistors. These applications are constant power have a slope of -1 such as shown in
merely special cases of one of the three basic Figure <5>. For some applications it is more con-
electrical characteristics. venient to plot the static voltage-current
characteristic on linear coordinates such as
Current-Time Characteristic
shown in Figure <6>.
In our analysis of the thermal properties of NTC
thermistors, we observed that a self heated ther-
mistor exhibits a body temperature rise that is a
function of time. This is mathematically expressed
in equation (6).
A transient condition exists in a thermistor circuit
from the time at which power is first applied from a
Thevenin source, (t=0), until the time at which an
equilibrium condition is achieved, (t>>τ). Generally,
the excitation is considered to be a step function in
voltage through a Thevenin equivalent source.
During this time the current will rise from an initial
value to a final value and this current change as a
Figure 5: Typical Voltage-Current Characteristic
function of time is called the “Current-Time
(log-log scale)
Characteristic”.
The Current-Time Characteristic is not a simple
exponential relationship. The rate of current change
will be initially low due to the high resistance of the
thermistor and the added source resistance. As the
device begins to self-heat, the resistance will
decrease rapidly and the rate of current change will
increase. Finally, as the device approaches an
equilibrium condition, the rate of current change will
decrease as the current reaches its final value.
The factors which affect the Current-Time
Characteristic are the heat capacity of the device
(C), the dissipation constant of the device ( δ ), the
source voltage, the source resistance and the Figure 6: Typical Voltage-Current Characteristic
resistance of the device at a specified ambient (linear scale)
temperature. The initial and final current values and
the time required to reach the final current value can
When the amount of power dissipated in the
be altered as needed by proper circuit design.
thermistor is negligible, the voltage-current charac-
The Current-Time Characteristic is used in time teristic will be tangential to a line of constant
delay, surge suppression, filament protection, resistance that is equal to the zero-power resistance
overload protection and sequential switching of the device at the specified ambient temperature.
applications.
β (TO-T) [
RT = RTO exp
[ TTO (10)
The more recent literature on thermistors
accounts for the non-linearity of In RT vs 1/T
characteristic by using the standard curve fitting
technique of considering In RT to be a polynomial in
where: ( RT ) is the resistance at an absolute 1/T or vice versa.
temperature (T) expressed in kelvins
(°C + 273.15); (β) is the “beta” or “material
constant” is the slope of the thermistor R-T charac- Excellent results have been obtained with the use
teristic (in kelvins) over the specified temperature of the following third order polynomials:
range; and, RT0 is the resistance at a specified
reference temperature, T0, that is also expressed 1
in kelvins. = a + b[lnRT] + c[lnRT]2 + d[lnRT]3
T
Equations (10) appears most frequently in NTC (15)
thermistor literature. Thermistor manufacturers will
provide “beta” information for each of the material
systems they offer. Temperature spans of 0 to B +C +D
50°C, 25 to 85°C, 25 to 125°C and 100 to 200°F lnRT = A0 +
T T2 T3
are most common, however, any two data points
(16)
can be used for solution. The terms equation (10)
can be rearranged to solve for beta or temperature:
1
= b0 + b1[lnRT]2 + b3[lnRT]3
[ T
TTO RT
β=
TO-T
1n
[ RTO (11)
(17)
B1 + B3
lnRT = B0 +
[ [ T T3
1 RT 1
[ [
-1
t(°C) = 1n + -273.15
β RTO TO (12)
(18)
Table 1: Summary of curve fitting errors Equations (17) and (18) both make use of three
constants. Consequently, they require only three
A) Full third degree polynomials, such as equa- calibration data points and the solution of three
tions (15) and (16), do not introduce interpo- simultaneous equations to determine the values of
lation errors that exceed the total measure- the unknown constants. When using these
ment uncertainty (typically 0.005°C equations, the material constant (β) and the
to 0.010°C) for: temperature coefficient of resistance ( α ) may be
expressed as follows:
a1) 100°C spans within the overall range of -80
to +260°C.
a2) 150°C spans within the overall range of -60
3B3
to +260°C. β = B1 +
T3 (21)
a3) 150 to 200°C spans within the overall range
of 0 to +260°C except that the interpolation
error begins to approximate the measurement
uncertainties. [
α=- [ B1
T2
+
3B3
T4
(22)
Immersion Errors or Stem Effects for the Heat Capacity of the Medium
Temperature Monitor The heat capacity of the test medium must be
Generally, there is a heat-transfer path between sufficiently large compared with that of the thermis-
the actual sensing element and the surrounding tor or thermistor assembly and its associated fixture
ambient environment which normally is at a differ- so that the temperature of the test medium is not
ent temperature than the calibration temperature. changed when they are immersed. When this is not
This can result in a monitor temperature that differs the case, enough time must be permitted to elapse
from the calibration medium by some factor. Unless for the total system to reach an equilibrium
the monitor has been calibrated for partial immer- condition, after immersion.
sion, total immersion is recommended.
It appears as if the voltage-current characteristic thermistor beads are suspended by their leadwires
has been translated along a line of constant power, across a gap on a header or fixture for gaseous
however, this is not correct. The R-T characteristic is environments and long probes are used for
non-linear and so the voltage-current characteristic immersion in liquid environments.
curves must be generated for the new ambient tem-
perature conditions. Applications Based on Resistance-Temperature
In the Group 4 category of Applications based on Characteristic
the E-I Characteristic shown in Table <3>, the
excitation is a change in radiation absorbed by the Applications that are based upon the resistance-
thermistor. The operating point has caused shift in temperature characteristics include temperature
the same manner as if the temperature is changed. measurement, control, and compensation. Also
Figure <13> illustrates this type of excitation. included are those applications for which the
temperature of the thermistor is related to some
In all of the applications involving self-heated
other physical phenomena. Unlike the application
thermistors, consideration must be given to the
based upon the current-time or voltage-current
maximum power ratings of the thermistor utilized.
characteristics, these applications require that the
Excessive power levels can cause degradation of the
thermistor be operated in a zero-power condition.
thermistor or possibly even catastrophic failure.
In the previous treatment of the Resistance-
Particular consideration must be given to the type
Temperature Characteristic, data was presented on
mounting. The heat transfer properties of the
the derivation of interpolation equations that can be
thermistor will be affected by the way the thermistor
used for NTC thermistors. The various equations
is mounted and will therefore show up as a
discussed, when used under the proper set of
change in the dissipation constant. For many of the
conditions, can adequately and accurately define
applications, it is desirable to have the thermistor
the zero-power resistance-temperature characteris-
suspended in such a fashion that it is isolated from
tic of the NTC thermistors.
the mount as much as possible. As an example,
eo ( T ) R 1
= = [ (24)
Linear Voltage Divider
B
Figure 17: Wheatstone Bridge Circuits (Infinite
Load).
Bridge Circuit
T3 T2
Digital Instrumentation