Low-Distortion Silicon Thermistor with Negative Temperature Coefficient of Resistance

A low-distortion silicon thermistor with a negative temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) is demonstrated. The negative TCR is characterized by a freeze-out region in temperature-resistivity characteristics associated with deep levels in gold-doped silicon. A practical thermistor constant above 3000 K is obtained for p-type silicon, and excellent linearity in the I- V characteristics is exhibited bY measuring the distortion factors which exceed 80 and 100 dB for the second and third harmonic distortions, respectively. These values are as good as those (> 100 dB) for commercial oxide thermistor.