Horizontal Oxidation Diffusion Behavior of MEMS-Based Tungsten-Rhenium Thin Film Thermocouples

Tungsten-rhenium thin film thermocouples (TFTCs) are well suited for the surface temperature monitoring of hot components due to their small size, rapid response and low cost. In this study, a tungsten-rhenium TFTC with SiC protective film on all parts except the pads was fabricated by a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) process. During the low to medium temperature (−40 °C to 500 °C) repeatability test phase, the thermal voltage from the TFTC agreed well with that of the standard tungsten-rhenium thermocouple. However, during the high temperature test phase, the TFTC lost electronic response at around 620 °C. Failure analysis of the TFTC tested at 620 °C was performed by microscopy, scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM) and statistics. The results showed that the pads were oxidized without the protective layer, the number of oxidized protrusions distributed in this TFTC from the pad to the node decreases more and more slowly and the size of the oxidized protrusions also becomes smaller and smaller. This demonstrates the presence of horizontal oxidation diffusion in TFTCs, further illustrating the importance of pad protection and provides a direction for the subsequent structural optimization and the extension of the service life of TFTCs and other sensors.