The effect of energisation current on the calibration of silicon diode thermometers

Gowlett, D.J., McDonald, P.C., Scurlock, R.G. and Watson, J.H.P. (1998) The effect of energisation current on the calibration of silicon diode thermometers. In Proceedings of the International Cryogenics Engineering Conference (ICEC17). Institute of Physics. pp. 775-779 .

Abstract

The BC557 transistor is widely used as a silicon diode thermometer in which the collector-base voltage, at a constant bias current, is measured as the indicator of temperature The normally applied bias current for this measurement is 10?A, however under some circumstances advantage may be gained by biassing at a higher current Since its first use in thermometry the BC557 has undergone changes in its production technology and these have had some impact on its temperature characteristics. In this paper the sensitivity of calibration to bias current is discussed and data is presented on old and new technology devices which have been characterised at 10 and 50?A. At higher temperatures, a reduced spread in the V-T characteristics of the devices is observed with the higher current, giving an improved conformity to standardised calibration data.

This record has no associated files available for download.

Contributors

Download statistics