What are the main types of temperature sensors?

There are four main types of temperature sensors: thermocouples, thermistors, resistance temperature detectors (RTDs), and IC temperature sensors (see table below). IC temperature sensors include two types: analog output and digital output.
Thermocouples are widely used because they are very sturdy and not too expensive. There are various types of thermocouples that cover a very wide temperature range, from -200 ℃ to 2000 ℃. Their characteristics are: low sensitivity, low stability, moderate accuracy, slow response speed, easy aging and drift at high temperatures, and nonlinearity. Additionally, thermocouples require an external reference terminal.
RTD has extremely high accuracy and moderate linearity. They are particularly stable and come in many configurations. But their maximum operating temperature can only reach around 400 ℃. They also have a large TC, are expensive (4-10 times that of thermocouples), and require an external reference source.
The analog output IC temperature sensor has high linearity (which can generate digital output if combined with an analog-to-digital converter or ADC), low cost, high accuracy (approximately 1 [%]), small size, and high resolution. Their shortcomings lie in the limited temperature range (-55 ℃ to+150 ℃) and the need for an external reference source
The digital output IC temperature sensor comes with a built-in reference source, and their response speed is also quite slow (on the order of 100 ms). Although they inherently generate heat on their own, they can use automatic shutdown and single conversion modes to set the IC to a low-power state before measurement is required, thereby minimizing their own heat generation.
Compared with thermistor, RTD, and thermocouple sensors, IC temperature sensors have high linearity, low system cost, integrated complex functions, can provide a digital output, and can perform temperature measurements within a very useful range.