Nichrome Resistors Research Articles

An Arduino-based experiment designed to estimate the heat capacity of a nichrome resistor

In this paper, we propose a simple experiment to discuss some fundamental concepts of electricity and thermal physics, based on a very popular device within the current education scenario, the Arduino. In this proposal, we use the Arduino microcontroller as a data acquisition device to obtain the temperature of a nichrome resistor, that heats up in a circuit by Joule Effect over time. Using the data obtained, we developed a protocol to experimentally estimate the nichrome resistor heat capacity.

Forensic characterization of thin film resistor degradation

Experienced reliability engineers and failure analysts often rely on visual aspects of degradation and destruction to reconstruct events leading up to failure of semiconductor circuit elements. Often, the resulting theories about failure causes are tested by duplication experiments. These re-creations are typically evaluated and compared using those same visual attributes. This study is intended to establish the historical basis for visual comparison of nichrome resistor failures (a Rogues gallery of broken resistors) and then debunk correlation theories with simulations and empirical failure duplication results. The results will show that various visual failure characteristics can be reproduced by an unexpectedly wide range of applied stimulus. The final appearance of a “dead” resistor does not always portray how the part was “killed”.

RF parameter extraction of MMIC nichrome resistors

AbstractThe lumped‐element electrical equivalent circuit of nichrome (NiCr) resistors is important for monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) design. This paper presents a methodology for the RF parameter extraction of thin‐film NiCr resistors fabricated on GaAs substrate. An algorithm based on DUT S parameters has been developed to extract the electrical parameters of the equivalent circuit up to 18 GHz for a large number of resistors of varying geometries and geometry‐scaleable curve‐fitted equations for the model parameters have been obtained. The computed S parameters, based on the extracted model parameters, agree reasonably well with the measured S parameters. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 39: 409–412, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.11233

Radiation hardness measurements on components of a full custom bipolar process

We present the characterization of various components of the full custom bipolar process SHPi by Tektronix with respect to radiation hardness. The motivation of this work is to design a low-power, low-noise frontend with fast shaping for silicon microstrip detectors. We have tested BJTs ( npn of various size and a lateral pnp), JFETs, Schottky diodes, implanted resistors and NiChrome resistors. The devices were irradiated to 60Co dose of up to 5 Mrad in few steps, to fluence of 5.5∗10 13 n cm −2 of neutrons from a spallation source in few steps and to fluence of up to 1.1∗10 14 cm −2 of 650 MeV protons. It allows us to characterize the sensitivity of the devices on both ionization effects and displacement damage. We have measured the radiation effects on the dc parameters and characteristics of all components as well as on noise in npn BJTs of various size considered as candidates for the preamplifier input transistor. The most significant effect which we observe is the decrease of the current gain β in bipolar transistors for low emitter current densities. Both important noise sources, i.e. the shot noise of the collector current and the thermal noise of the base spread resistance are unaffected by irradiation.

First demonstration of 60 GHz-fT, GaInP/GaAs HBT IC technology with 28 ps ECL gate delay

A fully integrated GaInP/GaAs HBT IC process with Schottky diodes, nichrome resistors, MIM capacitors and air-bridge inductors is presented. The HBTs have an fT and fmax of 60 and 45 GHz, respectively. Unloaded ECL gate delays of 28 ps are obtained from ring oscillator measurements. A divide-by-eight prescaler circuit clocks at 12.5 GHz.

A sixteen-bit monolithic bipolar DAC

Describes a fully monolithic 16-bit digital-analog converter (DAC) which is fabricated with dielectric isolation and thin film nichrome resistors. The design uses a straightforward extension of techniques successfully used in lower resolution DACs. To achieve the greater accuracy needed for a 16-bit DAC, special layout techniques are used. An auxiliary R-2R ladder is introduced to provide a ground current cancellation scheme. The experimental results show that 16-bit resolution is possible with a typical settling time of 1 /spl mu/s. Improved performance over a temperature range of 0/spl deg/C-75/spl deg/C is observed with units exhibiting one-half an LSB differential and integral linearity of 14-bit resolution. The initial 16-bit accuracy approaches that of expensive hybrid modules, while the accuracy over wide temperature ranges surpasses anything presently reported.

The distributed RC variable-frequency phase-shift oscillator

Methods of realising the voltage-controlled variable-frequency distributed RC phase-shift oscillator in integrated form are considered. A metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitor structure in which the metal is a nichrome resistor is specified. Two methods of varying the oscillation frequency are considered. The first uses the voltage-variable capacitance of the MOS structure. A simplified theory predicts the transfer characteristics well. The available frequency range as an oscillator is small because of the limited capacitance range of the devices used. However a frequency-voltage characteristic linear to better than 0.05% from 4.85 MHz to 5.1 MHz is observed. A very much wider frequency range is expected with improved devices. A second method of varying oscillation frequency uses a shunt varactor diode. The theory presented gives good agreement with measurements of transfer characteristics and predicts an attenuation near to 21 dB at 180° phase shift over a useful frequency range. This is also confirmed experimentally. The performance as an oscillator is limited in frequency by the non-ideal amplifiers used.

Transient Temperature Rise in Layered Media

An analytic expression for the temperature rise produced by a heat-generating layer in contact with a large body is obtained by the Laplace transform method. The solution is used to study the temperature distribution in thin film nichrome resistors under transient conditions.

Nichrome resistor failures as studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS or ESCA) : W. E. Baitinger, N. Winograd, J. W. Amy and J. A. Munarin. Proc. IEEE Reliability Physics Symp. April 2–4, 1974. p. 1

Nichrome resistor failures as studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS or ESCA) : W. E. Baitinger, N. Winograd, J. W. Amy and J. A. Munarin. Proc. IEEE Reliability Physics Symp. April 2–4, 1974. p. 1

Applications of scanning electron microscopy to thin film studies on semiconductor devices

Some of the various uses of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) as applied to thin film studies on semiconductor devices are illustrated. Examples presented include the use of the SEM to measure thickness variations in an aluminum film, to determine evaporation coverage of aluminum films over oxide steps, to locate θ phase (CuAl <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> ) particles in an Al-2% Cu thin film, to determine crystallographic orientation using Coates-Kikuchi patterns, to find an open circuit in a nichrome resistor, to follow the fuse blowout of an aluminum stripe, and to determine the chemical composition of thin films. In these examples, the secondary backscatter electron beam induced current (EBIC), voltage contrast, and X-ray modes are demonstrated as well as the rapid scan technique.

The effect of neutron irradiation on thin film resistors

Thin film resistors representing most of the current manufacturing techniques have been irradiated in a nuclear reactor. The technique used to measure changes in resistance during irradiation has been previously described 1. After a total dose of 10 16 fast neutrons cm -2 and over 10 8 rads of gamma radiation the nichrome resistors, regardless of details of manufacture, all showed a fall in resistance, the median value being 0.035%. After a similar irradiation tantalum resistors,on the other hand, showed an increase of under 0.02%. The temperature coefficient of resistance (T.C.R.) of tantalum resistors remained constant during irradiation, whereas that of the nichrome resistors showed a considerable increase. These differences in behaviour are consistent with the assumption that the tantalum films are continuous or have closely spaced grains 2 and nichrome films are agglomerated 3,4. The model proposed by Hill 6 for conduction in agglomerated gold films offers an attractive explanation for the changes observed in nichrome resistors.

Some applications of triode sputtering to integrated circuits

Thin film resistors formed by depositing suitable alloys by sputtering under proper conditions are relatively stable and reproducible. Failure modes in silicon and nichrome resistors have been identified with diffusion of the metal from aluminium and gold contacts. Bias-sputtered contacts of molybdenum covered with gold avoid this diffusion problem, and life test data show the resulting devices to be quite reliable. The molybdenum and gold can be deposited sequentially in the same pumpdown and film thickness is easily controlled. Reactively sputtered dielectric layers have also been investigated but appear to be somewhat porous and not capable of producing capacitors equivalent to those with thermally grown silicon.

Correlation techniques applied to evaluating vacuum deposition of thin film nichrome resistor arrays : J. J. Grossman and H. R. Isaak, Proc. 1966 Electron. Components Conf., Washington D.C., p. 46

Correlation techniques applied to evaluating vacuum deposition of thin film nichrome resistor arrays : J. J. Grossman and H. R. Isaak, Proc. 1966 Electron. Components Conf., Washington D.C., p. 46

Current noise in cermet resistive films

The frequency dependence of current noise has been measured in cermet films consisting of chromium and silicon monoxide, and found to be approximately of a 1/f form. The current noise was found to decrease with increasing chromium content, becoming comparable with that given by nichrome resistors for atomic compositions of metal content greater than 38%.

823. Temperature and other characteristics of thin film nichrome resistors on various substrate materials: H.J. Degenhart and I.H. Pratt, Inst. Elect. Electron. Engrs. Int. Conv. Rec., 11 (6), 1963, 59–68

823. Temperature and other characteristics of thin film nichrome resistors on various substrate materials: H.J. Degenhart and I.H. Pratt, Inst. Elect. Electron. Engrs. Int. Conv. Rec., 11 (6), 1963, 59–68

Temperature and other charadscteristics of thin-film nichrome resistors on various substrate materials

Summary form only. An abstract of the above-titled article, taken from the 1963 IEEE International Convention (held March 25-28, New York, NY, USA), is presented.

APPLlCATION OF ELECTRIC HEAT TO VITREOUS ENAMELING1

A two-compartment open-chamber furnace with separating door operated from the outside is described. The source of heat is an electric current passed through a nichrome resistor ribbon wound over refractory supports arranged along the sides of the furnace. The front or preheating compartment is operated at 300°C and the back or finishing compartment at 900°C, with automatic control. The advantages, compared with oil heating, are: rejections reduced from 25 per cent to zero; 50 per cent increase in output for same floor space; 47.4 per cent lower fuel cost; improved quality and uniformity; lower maintenance cost and greater ease of operation.