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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 February 2011
Thin-film thermocouples are well suited for “smart” processes where the mass of traditional two-lead thermocouples inhibits their wide utilization. However, currentthin-film thermocouples lack the robustness desired for abrasive environments. To addressthis issue, thin-film refractory metal thermocouples consisting of combinations of molybdenum, tantalum, tungsten, vanadium, or nickel were produced by ion-beam sputtering on an alumina substrate. To speed up the process of sampling a large number of material combinations, the thermocouples were made small, about 200 nm thick, 2.5 mm wide, and 12 mm long. An apparatus was fabricated to measure the thermo-electric responses of these short-length thermocouples. Materials design and heat-transfer issues relating to the applicationsand testing of these thermocouples are discussed.