Vacancy defects reducing the accuracy and reliability of NTC sensors

The negative temperature coefficient (NTC) thermal sensor has received much attention for temperature sensing, which aims to achieve accurate temperature measurement by using the electrical signal generated by its temperature change. The perovskite (1-x)CaMn0.05Zr0.95O3-xCaMnO3 (x = 0, 0.1, and 0.2) composite ceramics were reported for the first time. Furthermore, their structure, microscopic morphology, and device performance were systematically evaluated. It was revealed that the sensor performance could be tuned by controlling the CaMnO3 ratio in the low resistance phase. The phase structure and crystal structures (cell volume and cell parameters a, b, and c) of the composite ceramics were defined using x-ray diffraction (XRD) refinement. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)/Mapping revealed dense and uniform micromorphology. The ln(ρ) and 1000/T were quite linear, and the aging drift rate was as low as 1.89% after aging at 900 °C for 600 h. Importantly, a novel double hopping mechanism and a cation vacancy defect diffusion model were proposed to reveal the electron transport mechanism in the sensor lattice and elaborate the physical mechanism of the effect of cation vacancy defects on sensor resistance drift. In conclusion, this study prepared an NTC thermal sensor with ultra-high stability in a high temperature environment by rational design, providing a fresh idea for subsequently developing a high temperature NTC sensor.