Simultaneous mechanical and electrical straining of conventional thick-film resistors

Thick‐Film Resistor Failure Analysis Based on Low‐Frequency Noise Measurements

“…Moreover, several papers explored properties of thick-film surge resistors [11] that serve as protection of communication systems from a variety of voltage disturbances such as short duration, high-voltage transients caused by lightning strikes or longer duration over voltages. Nowadays, the revival of thick-film technology that can be attributed to new applications of thick-film resistors induced the necessity of extensive behavioural studies related to undesirable high-voltage pulse stressing of conventional thick resistive films [12][13][14].…”

“…According to the results given in previous figures, the resistance noise spectrum and noise index increases ( Figure 8b and Table 1) are probably mainly related to changes in the microstructure of the resistive layer. Figure 9 shows catastrophically failed resistor with a sheet resistance of 1 kΩ/sq [14]. Resistance of the thick-film resistor gradually increased with high-voltage pulse treatment until pulse amplitude reached its critical level at which resistor suffered catastrophic failure due to the excess loaded voltage.…”

“…Photograph of catastrophically failed thick-film resistor due to the presence of hot spots caused by conducting material dispersion. Experimental results for relative resistance changes and noise index during high-voltage pulse stressing of 1kΩ/sq thick-film resistor (a) and a photograph of catastrophically failed resistor with designated failure points (b) [14].…”

Low‐Frequency Noise and Resistance as Reliability Indicators of Mechanically and Electrically Strained Thick‐Film Resistors

“…On the other hand, standard thick-film resistors are being continuously used in contemporary electronic equipment that requires high functional capability, improved reliability and environmental stability. These up-to-date applications induced the need to examine performances of standard mechanically strained thick-film resistive structures [5,16].…”

“…Mechanical straining causes a reversible resistance change in thick-film resistors [5,16]. The reversible resistance change is partially due to change in resistor geometry but mainly due to micro-structure changes.…”