We fabricated plate typed shunt resistors composed of carbon nanotube (CNT) and metal alloy for measuring DC current. CNT plates were prepared from dispersed CNT/Urethane solution by squeezing method. Cu/Ni alloys were prepared from composition-designed alloy wires for adjusting the temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) by pressing them. As well, we fabricated a hybrid resistor by squeezing the CNT/Urethane solution on the metal alloy plate directly. In order to confirm the composition ratio of the Cu/Ni alloy, we used an energy-dispersed X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Cross-section and surface morphology were analyzed by using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Finally, we measured the initial resistance of 2.35 Ω at 25℃ for the CNT paper resistor, 7.56 mΩ for the alloy resistor, and 7.38 mΩ for the hybrid resistor. The TCR was also measured to be -778.72 ppm/℃ at the temperature range between 25℃ to 125℃ for the CNT paper resistor, 824.06 ppm/℃ for the alloy resistor, and 17.61 ppm/℃ for the hybrid resistor. Some of the hybrid resistors showed a near-zero TCR of 1.38, -2.77, 2.66, and 5.49 ppm/℃, which might be the world best-value ever reported. Consequently, we could expect an error-free measurement of the DC current using this resistor.
In this study, we fabricated plate-type shunt resistors with thermal stability by parallelly connecting metal alloy plates with positive temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) and carbon nanotube (CNT) plates with negative TCR. The metal alloy plates, which were prepared by alloying Cu and Mn with a composition of 91 wt% of Cu and 9 wt% of Mn, showed around 800 ppm/℃ of TCR, and the CNT plates prepared from the CNT solution by using the vacuum filtration method showed around -800 ppm/℃ of TCR. The shunt resistor that was fabricated by stacking metal alloy plates and CNT plates in this work showed about 46.93 ppm/℃ of TCR. Therefore, we conclude that a shunt resistor with low TCR can be realized by simply adjusting the TCR of the metal alloy only, because the TCR of the CNT plate has an identical value.