Temperature Sensor Front-End Calculator

Design an NTC or PT100/PT1000 front-end (resistor divider or constant current) and see the output voltage vs temperature, sensitivity, and ADC resolution.

Sensor

Front-end circuit

Range & ADC

Updates live as you change the inputs.

Sensor R at target
Output voltage at target
Sensitivity at target
Output span (min → max)
ADC resolution at target
Suggested value
VsRfVout
Divider front-end
Output voltage vs temperature

Turning a sensor's resistance into a voltage

A temperature sensor is a resistance that changes with temperature. To read it with an ADC you convert that resistance to a voltage — most often with aresistor divider (a fixed pull-up resistor in series with the sensor) or a constant-current source (which gives a voltage directly proportional to resistance).

Divider: Vout = Vs · R / (R + Rf)

Constant current: Vout = I · R

For a divider, sensitivity (mV per °C) is highest when the fixed resistor roughly equals the sensor's resistance at your target temperature — the suggested value uses that rule. A parallel resistor across an NTC trades some sensitivity for a straighter response, shown on the graph as the "without Rp" comparison.

The ADC resolution figure is the temperature step per code (Vref ÷ 2^bits ÷ sensitivity) at the target — useful for checking whether a given ADC resolves finely enough.