Negative Temperature Coefficient Thermistor (I)

NTC thermistor is a common temperature sensor in our life, which is popularly used in automobile, home appliance, and other fields.

NTC is the abbreviation of Negative Temperature Coefficient, which refers to semiconductor material or components with a large negative temperature coefficient. NTC thermistor is the thermistor with negative temperature coefficient. The NTC thermistor has manganese, cobalt, nickel, copper and other metal oxides as its main materials, which go through ceramic process. These materials have semiconductor properties, since they are completely similar to germanium, silicon and other semiconductor materials in conducting mode. When the temperature is low, the quantity of charge carrier (electrons and holes) of these metal oxides materials is small, so the resistance of these materials is high; when the temperature increases, the quantity of the charge carriers also increases, so the resistance decreases. The normal change range of NTC thermistor at room temperature is 100~1,000,000 ohm, and the temperature coefficient is between -2%~-6.5%. NTC thermistor has wide appliations, such as temperature measurement, temperature control, as well as temperature compensation, etc.

Physical photo of NTC thermistor

Various types NTC thermistors are provided in ATI website, check for more information.

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