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Definition of Thin Film Resistors and Thick Film Resistors

1. Thin film resistor

Thin film resistors are a type of high-precision resistor that uses a method similar to evaporation to deposit a certain resistivity material on the surface of an insulating material. Generally, ceramic substrates are commonly used as insulation materials for this type of resistor. The high-precision low-temperature drift surface mount resistor we often refer to generally refers to thin film surface mount resistors, including common one thousandth and one ten thousandth resistors.

2. Thick film resistor

Thick film surface mount resistors, also known as fixed chip resistors, are printed using thick film technology. These resistors come in various shapes, including ribbon, curved, rectangular, etc. It is mainly used in the manufacturing of power resistors and precision resistors. This type of resistor is resistant to moisture, high temperature, low temperature coefficient, small size, and lightweight.

The conventional production process of thick film chip resistors includes: raw material preparation, substrate slurry screen printing, front and back conductor printing, conductor sintering and drying, resistance printing, resistor body sintering, glass layer printing, glass layer sintering, laser cutting, protective layer printing, protective layer hardening, code printing, slitting, silver/sputtering at the end, end hardening, grain bending/electroplating, testing, and tape packaging.

How to distinguish between thin film and thick film resistors

Thin film resistors and thick film resistors are the most commonly used types of resistors. Thin film resistors are currently the mainstream surface mount precision resistors, but how to distinguish between these two types of resistors?

1. According to the film thickness

The film thickness of thick film resistors is generally greater than 10 μ m, while the film thickness of thin films is less than 10 μ m, mostly within the range of less than 1 μ m;

2. According to the manufacturing process

Thick film resistors generally use screen printing technology, while thin film resistors use processes such as vacuum evaporation and magnetron sputtering.

3. According to accuracy

Thick film resistors generally have low precision, mostly 1%, 5%, 10%, etc., while thin film resistors can achieve precision of 0.01%, 0.1%, etc;

4. According to the temperature coefficient

The temperature coefficient of thick film resistors is difficult to control and generally large, but thin film resistors can achieve very low temperature coefficients, such as 5PPM/℃ and 10PPM/℃. The resistance value changes very little with temperature, and the resistance value is stable and reliable. Therefore, the price is relatively expensive compared to thick film resistors. Therefore, when the temperature coefficient and accuracy requirements are high, thin film process resistors are used. If thick film process resistors are generally required, they can be used.