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techniques for approximating the international temperature ... - BIPM

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47<br />

Fig. 4.5: Some typical resistance versus <strong>temperature</strong> response curves <strong>for</strong> germanium<br />

<strong>the</strong>rmometers.<br />

At very low <strong>temperature</strong>s <strong>the</strong> resistance can easily surpass 10 5 Ω so that <strong>the</strong><br />

measuring current will be of <strong>the</strong> order of tens of nanoamperes if <strong>the</strong> power dissipated is to<br />

remain tolerable; <strong>the</strong> tolerable leakage current due to lack of insulation or from <strong>the</strong><br />

measuring instrument itself must be much smaller. That necessitates a measuring system<br />

with excellent signal-to-noise ratio. The very large sensitivity and its rapid change with<br />

<strong>temperature</strong> has both advantages (high precision of measurement) and disadvantages<br />

(ra<strong>the</strong>r small practical <strong>temperature</strong> range <strong>for</strong> any one <strong>the</strong>rmometer).<br />

The complicated behaviour of R and<br />

1 dR<br />

R dT<br />

as functions of <strong>temperature</strong>, resulting<br />

from changes in <strong>the</strong> conduction mechanism in germanium, prevents <strong>the</strong>ir being expressed<br />

by simple functions. On <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand, since both <strong>the</strong> resistivity and its <strong>temperature</strong><br />

coefficient are strongly influenced by doping, one can obtain <strong>the</strong>rmometers especially<br />

adapted to particular uses. For example:<br />

- n-doped <strong>the</strong>rmometers have a relatively smoothly-changing sensitivity, and so a fairly wide<br />

<strong>temperature</strong> range.

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