Transmission Line Pulse Stress on Thick Film Resistors

One of the most important issues of resistors properties is the value stability under different electrical and non electrical influences. Mechanical and/or thermal stress together with the electrical one represents the main factors that have a major contribution in resistor value stability. With shrinking resistor geometries of discrete, integrated and integral passives, the electrical stress gains more and more importance, especially under short duration voltage pulses. The analytical test technique of transmission line pulsers (TLP) allows, on the basis of square pulses, the in-situ monitoring of the voltages and currents at the DUT during pulsing and helps to gain fundamental insights into the electrical behavior. The influence of the pulse width and height on the current-voltage behavior was investigated on thick film chip resistors of different values and sizes. The resistance change due to an applied high voltage pulse is a measure of the electro static discharge (ESD) susceptibility of thick film resistors.