Thermistor

A thermistor is a type of resistor whose resistance is de- This T coecient should not be confused with the a
pendent on temperature, more so than in standard resis- parameter below.
tors. The word is a portmanteau of thermal and resistor.
Thermistors are widely used as inrush current limiter,
temperature sensors (NTC type typically), self-resetting
overcurrent protectors, and self-regulating heating ele- 2 SteinhartHart equation
ments.
Thermistors dier from resistance temperature detectors Main article: SteinhartHart equation
(RTDs) in that the material used in a thermistor is generally a ceramic or polymer, while RTDs use pure met- In practice, the linear approximation (above) works only
als. The temperature response is also dierent; RTDs are over a small temperature range. For accurate temperature
useful over larger temperature ranges, while thermistors measurements, the resistance/temperature curve of the
typically achieve a greater precision within a limited tem- device must be described in more detail. The Steinhart
perature range, typically 90 C to 130 C.[1]
Hart equation is a widely used third-order approximation:

Basic operation

1
= a + b ln(R) + c (ln(R))3
T

Assuming, as a rst-order approximation, that the relationship between resistance and temperature is linear, where a, b and c are called the SteinhartHart parameters,
and must be specied for each device. T is the absolute
then:
temperature and R is the resistance. To give resistance as
a function of temperature, the above can be rearranged
into:
R = kT
where

[(
R = exp

R , change in resistance
T , change in temperature
k , rst-order temperature coecient of resistance

1
x y
2

) 13

(
) 13 ]
1
x+ y
2

where
(
)
1
1
a
c
T
( )
3
( y )2
b
x=
+
3c
2

Thermistors can be classied into two types, depending

on the classication of k . If k is positive, the resistance
increases with increasing temperature, and the device is
called a positive temperature coecient (PTC) thermistor, or posistor. If k is negative, the resistance decreases
with increasing temperature, and the device is called a
negative temperature coecient (NTC) thermistor. Resistors that are not thermistors are designed to have a k
as close to 0 as possible, so that their resistance remains
nearly constant over a wide temperature range.

y=

The error in the SteinhartHart equation is generally less

than 0.02 C in the measurement of temperature over a
200 C range.[3] As an example, typical values for a thermistor with a resistance of 3k at room temperature (25
Instead of the temperature coecient k, sometimes the C = 298.15 K) are:
temperature coecient of resistance T (alpha sub T) is
used. It is dened as[2]
a = 1.40 103
b = 2.37 104

1 dR
T =
.
R(T ) dT

c = 9.90 108
1

CONDUCTION MODEL

B or parameter equation

I = electric current (amperes)

n = density of charge carriers (count/m)
NTC thermistors can also be characterised with the B (or A = cross-sectional area of the material (m)
) parameter equation, which is essentially the Steinhart v = velocity of charge carriers (m/s)
19
coulomb)
Hart equation with a = (1/T0 ) (1/B) ln(R0 ) , b = e = charge of an electron ( e = 1.602 10
1/B and c = 0 ,
Over large changes in temperature, calibration is necessary. Over small changes in temperature, if the right
semiconductor is used, the resistance of the material is
( )
1
1
1
R
linearly proportional to the temperature. There are many
=
+ ln
T
T0
B
R0
dierent semiconducting thermistors with a range from
Where the temperatures are in kelvin and R0 is the resis- about 0.01 kelvin to 2,000 kelvins (273.14 C to 1,700
tance at temperature T (25 C = 298.15 K). Solving for C).
0

R yields:

R = R0 e

1
T0

T1

4.2 PTC

Most PTC thermistors are made from doped polycrystalline ceramic (containing barium titanate (BaTiO3 ) and
other compounds) which have the property that that their
resistance rises suddenly at a certain critical temperature.
B/T
R = r e
Barium titanate is ferroelectric and its dielectric constant
varies with temperature. Below the Curie point temperwhere r = R0 eB/T0 .
ature, the high dielectric constant prevents the formation
This can be solved for the temperature:
of potential barriers between the crystal grains, leading
to a low resistance. In this region the device has a small
negative temperature coecient. At the Curie point temB
perature, the dielectric constant drops suciently to alT =
ln (R/r )
low the formation of potential barriers at the grain boundThe B-parameter equation can also be written as ln R = aries, and the resistance increases sharply with temperaB/T + ln r . This can be used to convert the function ture. At even higher temperatures, the material reverts to
of resistance vs. temperature of a thermistor into a lin- NTC behaviour.
ear function of ln R vs. 1/T . The average slope of this Another type of thermistor is a silistor, a thermally senfunction will then yield an estimate of the value of the B sitive silicon resistor. Silistors employ silicon as the semiparameter.
conductive component material. Unlike ceramic PTC
or, alternatively,

4
4.1

Conduction model
NTC

Many NTC thermistors are made from a pressed disc,

rod, plate, bead or cast chip of semiconducting material such as sintered metal oxides. They work because
raising the temperature of a semiconductor increases the
number of active charge carriers - it promotes them into
the conduction band. The more charge carriers that are
available, the more current a material can conduct. In
certain materials like ferric oxide (Fe2 O3 ) with titanium
(Ti) doping an n-type semiconductor is formed and the
charge carriers are electrons. In materials such as nickel
oxide (NiO) with lithium (Li) doping a p-type semiconductor is created where holes are the charge carriers.[4]
This is described in the formula:

I =nAve

thermistors, silistors have an almost linear resistancetemperature characteristic.[5]

Barium titanate thermistors can be used as self-controlled
heaters; for a given voltage, the ceramic will heat to a
certain temperature, but the power used will depend on
the heat loss from the ceramic.
The dynamics of PTC thermistors being powered also
is extremely useful. When rst connected to a voltage
source, a large current corresponding to the low, cold, resistance ows, but as the thermistor self-heats, the current is reduced until a limiting current (and corresponding peak device temperature) is reached. The currentlimiting eect can replace fuzes. They are also used in
the degaussing circuits of many CRT monitors and televisions where the degaussing coil only has to be connected
in series with an appropriately chosen thermistor; a particular advantage is that the current decrease is smooth,
producing optimum degausing eect. Improved degaussing circuits have auxiliary heating elements to heat the
thermistor further (and reduce the nal current) or timed
relays to disconnect the degaussing circuit entirely after
it has operated.

3
Another type of PTC thermistor is the polymer PTC,
which is sold under brand names such as "Polyswitch"
Semifuse, and Multifuse. This consists of plastic
with carbon grains embedded in it. When the plastic is
cool, the carbon grains are all in contact with each other,
forming a conductive path through the device. When the
plastic heats up, it expands, forcing the carbon grains
apart, and causing the resistance of the device to rise,
which then causes increased heating and rapid resistance
increase. Like the BaTiO3 thermistor, this device has a
highly nonlinear resistance/temperature response useful
for thermal or circuit control, not for temperature measurement. Besides circuit elements used to limit current,
self-limiting heaters can be made in the form of wires or
strips, useful for heat tracing. PTC thermistors 'latch' into
a hot / low resistance state: once hot, they stay that way,
until cooled. In fact, Neil A Downie showed how you can
use the eect as a simple latch/memory circuit, the eect
being enhanced by using two PTC thermistors in series,
with thermistor A cool, thermistor B hot, or vice versa.
[6]

Self-heating eects

When a current ows through a thermistor, it will generate heat which will raise the temperature of the thermistor above that of its environment. If the thermistor
is being used to measure the temperature of the environment, this electrical heating may introduce a signicant
error if a correction is not made. Alternatively, this eect
itself can be exploited. It can, for example, make a sensitive air-ow device employed in a sailplane rate-of-climb
instrument, the electronic variometer, or serve as a timer
for a relay as was formerly done in telephone exchanges.
The electrical power input to the thermistor is just:

PE = IV
where I is current and V is the voltage drop across the
thermistor. This power is converted to heat, and this
heat energy is transferred to the surrounding environment. The rate of transfer is well described by Newtons
law of cooling:

PT = K(T (R) T0 )
where T(R) is the temperature of the thermistor as a function of its resistance R, T0 is the temperature of the surroundings, and K is the dissipation constant, usually expressed in units of milliwatts per degree Celsius. At equilibrium, the two rates must be equal.

PE = PT

The current and voltage across the thermistor will depend

on the particular circuit conguration. As a simple example, if the voltage across the thermistor is held xed, then
by Ohms Law we have I = V /R and the equilibrium
equation can be solved for the ambient temperature as a
function of the measured resistance of the thermistor:

T0 = T (R)

V2
KR

The dissipation constant is a measure of the thermal connection of the thermistor to its surroundings. It is generally given for the thermistor in still air, and in well-stirred
oil. Typical values for a small glass bead thermistor are
1.5 mW/C in still air and 6.0 mW/C in stirred oil. If
the temperature of the environment is known beforehand,
then a thermistor may be used to measure the value of the
dissipation constant. For example, the thermistor may be
used as a ow rate sensor, since the dissipation constant
increases with the rate of ow of a uid past the thermistor.
The power dissipated in a thermistor is typically maintained at a very low level to ensure insignicant temperature measurement error due to self heating. However, some thermistor applications depend upon significant self heating to raise the body temperature of the
thermistor well above the ambient temperature so the sensor then detects even subtle changes in the thermal conductivity of the environment. Some of these applications
include liquid level detection, liquid ow measurement
and air ow measurement.[2]

6 Applications
PTC thermistors can be used as current-limiting
devices for circuit protection, as replacements for
fuses. Current through the device causes a small
amount of resistive heating. If the current is large
enough to generate more heat than the device can
lose to its surroundings, the device heats up, causing its resistance to increase. This creates a selfreinforcing eect that drives the resistance upwards,
therefore limiting the current.
PTC thermistors were used as timers in the
degaussing coil circuit of most CRT displays. When
the display unit is initially switched on, current ows
through the thermistor and degaussing coil. The coil
and thermistor are intentionally sized so that the current ow will heat the thermistor to the point that
the degaussing coil shuts o in under a second. For
eective degaussing, it is necessary that the magnitude of the alternating magnetic eld produced by
the degaussing coil decreases smoothly and continuously, rather than sharply switching o or decreasing
in steps; the PTC thermistor accomplishes this naturally as it heats up. A degaussing circuit using a PTC

9
thermistor is simple, reliable (for its simplicity), and
inexpensive.

REFERENCES

7 History

The rst NTC thermistor was discovered in 1833 by

Michael Faraday, who reported on the semiconducting
behavior of silver sulde. Faraday noticed that the resistance of silver sulde decreased dramatically as temperature increased. (This was also the rst documented
PTC thermistors are used in temperature compen- observation of a semiconducting material.) [11]
sated synthesizer voltage controlled oscillators.[7]
Because early thermistors were dicult to produce and
PTC thermistors are used in lithium battery protec- applications for the technology were limited, commercial production of thermistors did not begin until the
tion circuits.[8]
1930s.[12] A commercially viable thermistor was invented
PTC thermistors are used in an electrically actuated by Samuel Ruben in 1930.[13]
Wax motor to provide the heat necessary to expand
the wax.
PTC thermistors were used as heater in automotive
industry to provide additional heat inside cabin with
diesel engine or to heat diesel in cold climatic conditions before engine injection.

NTC thermistors are used as resistance thermometers in low-temperature measurements of the order
of 10 K.
NTC thermistors can be used as inrush-current limiting devices in power supply circuits. They present
a higher resistance initially which prevents large currents from owing at turn-on, and then heat up and
become much lower resistance to allow higher current ow during normal operation. These thermistors are usually much larger than measuring type
thermistors, and are purposely designed for this
application.[9]
NTC thermistors are regularly used in automotive
applications. For example, they monitor things like
coolant temperature and/or oil temperature inside
the engine and provide data to the ECU and, indirectly, to the dashboard.
NTC thermistors can be also used to monitor the
temperature of an incubator.
Thermistors are also commonly used in modern
digital thermostats and to monitor the temperature
of battery packs while charging.
Thermistors are often used in the hot ends of 3D
printers; they monitor the heat produced and allow
the printers control circuitry to keep a constant temperature for melting the plastic lament.
NTC thermistors are used in the Food Handling and
Processing industry, especially for food storage systems and food preparation. Maintaining the correct
temperature is critical to prevent food borne illness.
NTC thermistors are used throughout the Consumer Appliance industry for measuring temperature. Toasters, coee makers, refrigerators, freezers, hair dryers, etc. all rely on thermistors for
proper temperature control.

8 See also
Iron-hydrogen resistor
Thermocouple

9 References
[1] NTC Thermistors. Micro-chip Technologies. 2010.
[2] Thermistor Terminology. U.S. Sensor
[3] Practical Temperature Measurements. Agilent Application Note. Agilent Semiconductor.
[4] L. W Turner, ed. (1976). Electronics Engineers Reference
Book (4 ed.). Butterworths. pp. 629 to 641. ISBN
0408001682.
[5] PTC Thermistors and Silistors The Resistor Guide
[6] Downie, Neil A, 'The Ultimate Book of Saturday Science'
(Princeton 2012 ISBN 0-691-14966-6
[7] Temperature Compensated VCO
[8] Patent CN 1273423A (China)
[9] Inrush Current Limiting Power Thermistors. U.S. Sensor
[10] PTC Thermistors Guide- Publish By Analog Electronic
Technologies.".
[11] 1833 - First Semiconductor Eect is Recorded. Computer History Museum. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
[12] McGee, Thomas (1988). Chapter 9. Principles and
Methods of Temperature Measurement. John Wiley &
Sons. p. 203.
[13] Jones, Deric P., ed. (2009). Biomedical Sensors. Momentum Press. p. 12.

NTC thermistors come in bare and lugged forms, the

former is for point sensing to achieve high accuracy
Guy Apiwat
for specic points, such as laser diode die, etc.[10]

10

External links

The thermistor at bucknell.edu

Software for thermistor calculation at Sourceforge
Thermistors & Thermocouples:Matching the Tool
to the Task in Thermal Validation - Journal of Validation Technology

11

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