Understanding Smart Sensors - Nomads.usp

Glossary 361repeatability the maximum change in output under fixed operating conditionsover a specified period of timeresistance ratio characteristic the ratio of the zero-power resistance of athermistor measured at 25°C to that resistance measured at 125°Cresistance temperature characteristic the relationship between the zeropowerresistance of a thermistor and its body temperatureresolution the maximum change in pressure required to give a specifiedchange in outputresponse time time required for a sensor output to change from its previousstate to a final state within an error tolerance band of the new correct valuerouter device that connects the channels in multiple-media control systemsand passes information packets back and forthsacrificial layer a thin film deposited in the surface micromachining processthat is later etched away to release a microstructurescalable ability of MCU or MPU architecture to be modified to meet theneeds of several applications providing competitive price-performance pointsSchmitt trigger a circuit that turns the pulsed output from a sensor such asan optodetector or phototransistor into a pure digital signal. The lower andupper thresholds in the trigger remove the linear transition region between theon and off states.self-generating providing an output signal without applied excitation suchas a thermoelectric transducerself-heating internal heating resulting from electrical energy dissipatedwithin the unitSematech consortium of United States semiconductor and equipmentmanufacturerssemiconductor sensor sensor manufactured using silicon, GaAs, SiC, orother semiconductor materialssensactor a linguistic amalgam proposed by Ford engineers of a combinedsensor, microprocessor, and actuator possibly integrated on a single silicon chipsensitivity the change in output per unit change in input for a specifiedsupply or current