Version 1
: Received: 27 March 2024 / Approved: 27 March 2024 / Online: 28 March 2024 (15:35:55 CET)
How to cite:
Wadhwa, A.; Guerrero, J.B.; Gratuze, M.; Bolduc, M.; Cloutier, S.G. All Screen Printed and Flexible Silicon Carbide NTC Thermistors for Temperature Sensing Applications. Preprints2024, 2024031713. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202403.1713.v1
Wadhwa, A.; Guerrero, J.B.; Gratuze, M.; Bolduc, M.; Cloutier, S.G. All Screen Printed and Flexible Silicon Carbide NTC Thermistors for Temperature Sensing Applications. Preprints 2024, 2024031713. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202403.1713.v1
Wadhwa, A.; Guerrero, J.B.; Gratuze, M.; Bolduc, M.; Cloutier, S.G. All Screen Printed and Flexible Silicon Carbide NTC Thermistors for Temperature Sensing Applications. Preprints2024, 2024031713. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202403.1713.v1
APA Style
Wadhwa, A., Guerrero, J.B., Gratuze, M., Bolduc, M., & Cloutier, S.G. (2024). All Screen Printed and Flexible Silicon Carbide NTC Thermistors for Temperature Sensing Applications. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202403.1713.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Wadhwa, A., Martin Bolduc and Sylvain G Cloutier. 2024 "All Screen Printed and Flexible Silicon Carbide NTC Thermistors for Temperature Sensing Applications" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202403.1713.v1
Abstract
In this study, Silicon Carbide (SiC) nano-particle based serigraphic printing inks were
formulated to fabricate highly sensitive and wide temperature range SiC printed thermistors. Initially,
commercial silver ink was screen printed to fabricate inter-digitated electrodes (IDE’s) onto flexible
Kapton® substrate via screen printing. Thermistor inks with different weight ratios of SiC nano-
particles dispersed in polyimide resin matrix were fabricated. The SiC-polyimide temperature sensing
inks were screen printed atop the IDE structures to form fully printed thermistors and encapsulated
with a adhesive backed polyimide film for humidity inhibition. The high temperature tolerance
of the Kapton® allowed the the sensors to be tested over a wide temperature range form 25◦C to
170◦C. The printed SiC thermistors exhibit excellent repeatability and stability over 15 hours of
continuous operation. Optimal device performance was achieved with 30 wt.% SiC-polyimide ink.
We report highly sensitive devices with a temperature coefficient of Resistance (TCR) of -0.556 %/◦C,
a thermal coefficient of 502 K (β-index) and an activation energy of 0.08 eV which are comparable with
printed thermistors previous reported. Further, the thermistor demonstrates an accuracy of ±1.35◦C
which is well within the range offered by commercially available high sensitivity thermistors. SiC
thermistors exhibit a small 6.5% drift due to changes in relative humidity between 10-90 %RH and a
4.2 % drift in baseline resistance after 100 cycles of aggressive bend testing at a 40°angle. The use of
commercially available low cost materials, simplicity of design and fabrication techniques coupled
with the chemical inertness of the Kapton® substrate and SiC nanoparticles paves the way to use
all-printed SiC thermistors towards a wide range of applications where temperature monitoring is
vital for optimal system performance.
Keywords
Temperature Sensing; Negative Temperature Coefficient (NTC); Printed Electronics; Printed Temperature Sensors; Thermistors; Silicon Carbide; Wide Band-gap Semiconductor; Screen Printing; Silver ink
Subject
Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
