The Thermal Resistance Performance of WTi Alloy-Thin-Film Temperature Sensors Prepared by Magnetron Sputtering

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In this study, Wu et al. have reported the microstructure, electrical and thermal resistance performance of WTi alloy-thin-film temperature sensors prepared by magnetron sputtering method. It is interesting and well-organized work. I suggest it can be accepted for publication after addressing the following issues.

1. The full name of TCR should be used in Abstract instead of abbreviation.

2. Why the W (110) peak shifts to left with 0~6.8 at.% Ti addition while shifts to right with 9.6~22.7 at.% Ti addition?

3. What’s the maximum permissible service temperature of the sensoring films? Do you test the detection limits of the temperature?

4. The authors show us the variation of film resistance as a function of temperature, what’s the value of the initial film resistance? What’s the patterns of the film sensors using for temperature measurement? Please tell readers more details in Experiments.

5. Conclusions should be simplified.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

This work studies the thermal resistance performance of WTi thin films prepared by magnetron sputtering. New findings on phase structure, electrical resistivity and etc. vs. composition and annealing process were presented. The WTi films show promising application prospects for the temperature measurement of tools and dies. The manuscript is well-organized and is recommended for acceptance after minor revision.

It is suggested to explain, in the discussion part of Fig. 8, why (110) peak shift to higher value after 0.5 h annealing and then to low value after 1 h.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The manuscript presented here reports some experimental results in the microstructure and properties of of WTi alloy films with 0~23 at.% Ti prepared using magnetron sputtering. It is an interesting work. As the manuscript is still subject to some shortcomings, it can be published after a minor revision. The reasons are as follows,

1. Figure 1 should be rotated 90 degrees.

2. The authors claim that, 'Replacing the W atom increased the lattice constant, and the diffraction peak of (110) shifted to a low angle. With the increase in the Ti content, the half-height width of the (110) diffraction peak increased obviously, and the grain size of the alloy thin film decreased.' Quantitative information should be provided, e.g., degrees of peaks, calculated FWHM and grain size.

3. The thickness of the film affects the resistivity. The authors should consider this in the discussion.

4. The conclusion section should be rewritten with a clear structure.

5. Language should be improved.

Author Response

Please see attached file.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf