A Highly Thermostable In2O3/ITO Thin Film Thermocouple Prepared via Screen Printing for High Temperature Measurements

TLDR

An In₂O₃/ITO thin film thermocouple was prepared via screen printing, with glass additives added to improve sintering and increase film density. The thermocouple exhibited a 53.5 mV voltage at 1270 °C, a 44.5 μV/°C Seebeck coefficient, and a drift rate of 5.44 °C/h over 10 h, with grain size and densification improving as annealing time increased.

Abstract

An In₂O₃/ITO thin film thermocouple was prepared via screen printing. Glass additives were added to improve the sintering process and to increase the density of the In₂O₃/ITO films. The surface and cross-sectional images indicate that both the grain size and densification of the ITO and In₂O₃ films increased with the increase in annealing time. The thermoelectric voltage of the In₂O₃/ITO thermocouple was 53.5 mV at 1270 °C at the hot junction. The average Seebeck coefficient of the thermocouple was calculated as 44.5 μV/°C. The drift rate of the In₂O₃/ITO thermocouple was 5.44 °C/h at a measuring time of 10 h at 1270 °C.