Reliability of printed power resistor with thick-film copper terminals

Abstract This paper is focused on the thick-film power resistors with copper terminals. These terminals are created by the new Thick Printed Copper (TPC) technology. This technology is based on sequential screen printing and firing of copper paste in nitrogen atmosphere on an alumina substrate. Thick-film power resistor with copper terminals represents a potential replacement of standard wirewound power resistors and allows the direct integration of resistors on TPC substrates. Printed resistors on TPC substrates can be supplemented with discrete electronic components which creates the possibility to realize really complex power electronic circuits. The direct integration of printed components is not possible in case of using the standard Direct Bonded Copper (DBC) technology. The main benefits of printed resistors based on TPC technology are their low thickness and good thermal conductivity. The low thickness of resistors is important for miniaturization of final electronic devices. The resistor main electrical parameters as the temperature coefficient of resistance, temperature coefficient and nominal resistance value after dry heat aging and after thermal cycling, insulation resistance, dielectric strength etc., are described in this paper.