We report here the design, fabrication, and testing of an integrated thermocouple gauge. The gauge uses a thin‐film Cr heater and a thin‐film Cu–Cr differential thermocouple on a 5‐×3‐mm glass substrate. The thermocouple measures the difference between the heater and the substrate temperature. Calibration of the thin‐film Cu–Cr thermocouple gauge was done by using a standard K‐type thermocouple as reference. At a constant difference temperature the measured power input to the heater is a function of the surrounding vapor pressure. The thermocouple gauge was calibrated using a McLeod gauge with He, Ar, N2, H2O, and CO2 gases. Our measurements show that the range of the gauge can possibly be extended to the μTorr range. This gauge uses a standard thin‐film processing technique for fabrication resulting in a lower cost of production. Also, small size makes this gauge versatile and unique in comparison to many commercial gauges.

Topics
Vacuum apparatus, Thermoelectricity, Glass, Thin films
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© 1988 American Institute of Physics.
1988
American Institute of Physics
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