Effect of the Substrate Surface Roughness on the Stability of the Parameters of Thin-Film Resistive Elements

In this paper, the effect of the substrate surface roughness on the stability of the parameters of thin-film resistive elements is investigated. The surface roughness of the substrates is determined by optical microscopy and atomic-force microscopy (AFM). A technology is developed to produce a smoothing surface coating based on thin Ta2O5 films with an amorphous coherent structure, the application of which reduces the microroughness of the Rz surface profile to 12 nm or less. The coating allows thin nanoscale films to be formed on its surface, while the temperature coefficient of the resistance decreases about twice and the stability of thin-film resistors is increased.