NTC thermistor, its name comes from Negative Temperature Coefficient, which means negative temperature coefficient. It refers to a semiconductor material or component that has the characteristic of reducing resistance as temperature increases. This resistor is mainly made of metal oxides such as manganese, cobalt, nickel and copper, and is processed using ceramic technology. These materials are similar to ordinary semiconductors such as germanium and silicon in their conductive methods. In low temperature environments, these oxide materials exhibit higher resistance values due to the smaller number of carriers (electrons and holes); as the temperature increases, the number of carriers increases, resulting in a decrease in resistance value . At room temperature, NTC thermistors have a wide range of resistance values, ranging from 10Ω to 1 million Ω, and their temperature coefficients range from -2% to -6.5%.
The composition and historical development of NTC thermistors are also quite interesting. This material is mainly a semiconductor ceramic made by mixing, shaping and sintering various metal oxides, such as manganese, copper, silicon, etc. Such thermistor materials are not limited to oxide systems, but also include non-oxide systems such as silicon carbide, tin selenide, tantalum nitride, etc. The history of thermistors can be traced back to 1834, when scientists first discovered that silver sulfide has negative temperature coefficient properties. In 1930, the negative temperature coefficient performance of cuprous oxide-copper oxide was discovered and applied to aviation instruments. Since then, with the development of transistor technology, the research on NTC thermistors has made significant progress. By 1960, the NTC thermistor was officially developed. Resistor.
The temperature measurement range of NTC thermistor is quite wide, generally from -10℃ to +300℃, and under certain circumstances can even be used in more extreme temperature ranges, such as -200 ℃ to +1200 ℃. This allows NTC thermistors to work effectively in various environments, such as granary temperature monitoring, food storage, medicine and health, scientific research, ocean exploration, deep well exploration, high altitude and glacier temperature measurement, etc. The thermometer accuracy of NTC thermistor can reach 0.1℃, and the temperature sensing time is extremely short, usually less than 10 seconds. This fast and precise temperature response makes it extremely important in a variety of applications, especially those where precise temperature monitoring is required.