Patent ID: 7061363

Claim:
A passive, high-temperature-resistant resistor element for measuring temperature, comprising: a body portion having a substantially interior insulating layer; a tip; and two exterior conducting layers having a ceramic composite structure, the conducting layers being connected to one another at the tip of the resistor element, the ceramic composite structure including: (a) trisilicon tetranitride, (b) a metal suicide, and one of (c) yttrium oxide and (d) a matrix phase of Si x O y C z N w where x is 1–2, y is 0–2, and w is 0–2; wherein an abrupt change in diameter occurs between the body portion and the tip, the tip being shorter in length than the conducting layers, the insulating layer has a first resistance, the tip has a second resistance and the conducting layers have a third resistance, and wherein the first resistance is equal to or greater than 10 8 times the third resistance, and the second resistance is equal to or greater than 10 2 times the third resistance.