Thin film cryogenic thermometers defined with optical lithography for thermomagnetic measurements on films

Resistance thermometers are common secondary thermometers in cryogenic applications. Bulk RuO2 thermometers are used in dilution refrigerators because of their low magnetoresistances in addition to their temperature sensitivity. Thermoelectric and thermomagnetic measurements require multiple thermometers to measure temperature differences. Here, we present a method to fabricate thin film RuO2 thermometers directly onto an experimental substrate. This enhances thermal contact between thermometers and films whose thermoelectric or thermomagnetic properties may be measured. Commercial thermometers have higher temperature sensitivities than the thermometers presented in this study, but commercial thermometers must be carefully heat sunk to the cryostat or sample to be useful. Thin film thermometers can be patterned with ultraviolet (UV) lithography. This allows both the size of the thermometer and its distance from the sample, when also patterned with UV lithography, to be on the order of micrometers. A universal calibration curve for these thin film thermometers has not been produced. The efficacy of these thermometers has been demonstrated through measurements of the Nernst effect in Nb. In this study, the thin film thermometers were calibrated using the cryostat thermometers. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.