An experimental study of thick film strain sensitive resistors as typically employed in resistive bridge interface circuits has been undertaken. It has been found that the chosen aspect ratio (length to width ratio) of these screen printed and fired thick film resistors has a significant effect on both the temperature coefficient of resistance and the low frequency noise characteristics of the devices. This sensitivity to aspect ratio has been attributed to metal end contact migration in the devices during firing and hence a relationship between the sensitivity and the choice of end contact material and the firing regime employed in device fabrication has also been identified.
Experiments aimed at investigating the possible factors affecting the
temperature performance of thick-film resistors are presented. Particular
emphasis is given to the temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) of
thick film strain gauges printed on both alumina and stainless steel
substrates. The results confirmed that the resistance versus
temperature curve is nearly parabolic, but showed
that Tmin, the
temperature at which the TCR changes to zero, is largely affected by the
choice of resistor and substrate materials and also the thickness of the
thick-film resistors. A possible explanation is proposed for the observed
relationship between resistor thickness and TCR. Other factors, such as the
thickness of the substrates, the choice of conductor materials, and whether
single- or double-sided printing of the substrate was employed in
fabrication were found to make little difference to the temperature
performance of the thick-film resistors.
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