Preparation and thermal volatility characteristics of In2O3/ITO thin film thermocouple by RF magnetron sputtering

In2O3/ITOthin film thermocouples for high temperature measurement (up to 1250 degrees C) were prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering method with different annealing temperatures from 1100 degrees C to 1250 degrees C. The changes with microstructure characteristics and the thickness of the thin film thermocouples were investigated as a function of sintering temperature in the range of 1100 degrees C - 1250 degrees C and annealing time from 2 hrs to 10 hrs at 1200 degrees C by using XRD and SEM techniques. The thermoelectric outputwas measured and its results indicated that this thermocouple had a steady and constant voltage output from room temperature to 1247 degrees C. The thermoelectric voltage and Seebeck coefficient of In2O3/ITOthermocouples measured at 1247 degrees C were 166.7mV and 136.3 mu V/degrees C, respectively. (C) 2017 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).