Thin film heater and thermopile built up using some silicides under thermal test

In the past we demonstrated the applicability of magnetron sputtered films based on Ge-alloy and some metal silicides in the thermal converter construction .These devices made of selected material composition showed the useful output signal up to ambient temperature of 773 K. In this paper the behaviour of thin film heaters made of MoSi₂ and thermopiles with using TiSi₂ /Ge-alloy couples under long-term test in ambient air at 473 Kfor 200h was described. During thermal test the heaters were loaded periodically with dc power about 100mW to obtain the voltage signal of thermopile. The changes in resistance of MoSi₂ heaters versus time were monitored and evaluated. The aim of the present work was to analyse the changes of thermal response as well as the changes in total resistance for a 12-couple pile too .Our investigations showed that observed changes depended on three mechanisms: the diffusion, the recrystallization and oxidation of film components.