Multipurpose thermal sensor based on Seebeck effect

This paper reports a multipurpose thermal sensor based on the Seebeck effect. The sensor has thermocouples with a multilayer structure consisting of one thermocouple strip laying on the insulating membrane and the other one under the first thermoelement and the membrane. The vertical arrangement allows a greater number of thermocouples to be placed on a given chip area. Central and lateral thermistors are placed near hot and cold thermocouple junctions, respectively, and serve for determination of the temperature difference established on the chip. Experimental results confirm that the same structure could be used as a thermal converter and a gas flow meter.