Effects of metal Ni with catalytic activity on magnetron sputtered Cr–Si resistive film in a heat and humid environment

Metal Ni and their alloys are often used as resistive films in electrical application and as catalysts in hydrogen evolution reactions. In this work, high-resistance Cr–Si and Cr–Si–Ni thin film resistors (2.2 MΩ and 240 kΩ) were prepared by the magnetron sputtering method and their properties were studied by the designed heat and humid experiment. Experiments showed that Cr–Si–Ni film resistors exhibited a better resistance to heat and humidity than Cr–Si film resistors. The reason may be attributed to the electrocatalytic activity of metal Ni in the Cr–Si–Ni film for hydrogen evolution reaction.