Electrical current measurement based on Joule heating of micro-resistors

In the study, a novel micro sensor is presented for detection of measurement of electrical current, consisting of a quartz substrate and Pt resistors. As current flow through the resistor, some energy is converted to heat. The power generated in this process is related to both the voltage across the resistor and the current flowing through it, which causes a resistance variation of the resistance temperature detector (RTD) near the resistor. It is found that the sensitivity of the micro sensor increases as the distance decreases between the resistor and the RTD due to the more rapid heat conduction. At the working temperature of 200°C, the experimental results show that the sensor has a high degree of sensitivity (0.061 Ω/mA).