Fabrication using filler controlled pyrolysis and characterization of polysilazane PDC RTD arrays on quartz wafers

A fabrication process is developed for producing resistance-temperature detectors (RTD) made from a polymer derived ceramic (PDC). To fabricate the composite ceramic RTDs, screen printing of the polymer on quartz substrates is used. To overcome the shrinkage problem of PDCs, active filler powders are added to the polysilazane polymer before pyrolysis. With 60 wt% of Al or 80 wt% of TiB ₂ powder, the linear shrinkage of the ceramic composite was reduced to near zero which enabled it to survive on a quartz substrate without any damage. The electrical resistance of the gold-electroded sensors was measured at elevated temperature. XRD and SEM analysis were conducted to determine the composition of the ceramic composite RTDs.