Some Background on Metal Film Resistors

Resistors: You could find resistors in nearly all electronic equipment and are generally a typical element of an electrical network along with electronic circuits. These practical resistors are constructed from various films, compounds and also resistance wire. These wires are manufactured from high-resistivity alloy including nickel-chrome. The characteristics of resistors are specified by its level of resistance: typical resistors are made over a wide range of more than nine orders of magnitude. Depends upon its certain application, when finding the level of resistance for any electronic device, one must always pay attention to the manufacturing tolerance of the chosen resistor. In many precision applications, it may also be crucial that you pay attention to the temperature coefficient of the resistance. Resistors with higher power ratings are physically much bigger and might involve heat sinks. In a high-voltage circuit, special attention must be given to the rated maximum working voltage of the resistor. What are Metal Film Resistors: A resistor where the resistive element is a film of metal or metal alloy is known as a metal film resistor. With this type of resistor, the metal film is settled on an insulating substrate similar to ceramic. These resistors have excellent operational features, like low noise and minimal drift. Sometime they're also recognized as metalized resistor. Most of the time, these metal film resistors can be used for military and high-end industrial purposes. The most common sorts of axial-leaded metal film resistors are hardly any more expensive in comparison with carbon film and, given their excellent features, especially temperature coefficient, noise and power handling ability, many tools producers don't think it is beneficial to bother with carbon film. Most standard metal film resistors have a temperature coefficient in the order of 50 to 200 ppm/C. Nevertheless, you will find varieties available with a temperature coefficient of under 10 ppm/C.

Design: Metal Film Resistors are designed and manufacture to meet great requirements. Often, the metal inside the metal film resistor is made of NiCr (nickel-chromium) of diverse composition to create several array of resistance. Film of this alloy is then plated onto a ceramic alumina substrate. The leads and end caps are force-fitted to a tubular assembly and the resistance element is then trimmed to value by slicing a helical pattern of governed dimensions in it. With this, the exact same film composition can be used to a wide range of resistance values. The complete part is then protected in epoxy and marked. We can see however, that the drawback to the helical trimming method is that it limits its pulse handling ability as well as increases the resistors inductance. Normal Purposes: Stability, TCR and tolerance are some of the attributes these particular metal film resistors are good at. Caused by a low voltage coefficient, these resistors also have low noise attributes plus a high linearity. For that reason, in circuits where limited tolerance, low temperature coefficient and low noise components are essential, often metal film resistors are utilized. As said recently, lots of people would rather make use of metal film resistors because they are only a little more pricey as compared to carbon film resistors. Active filters or bridge circuits are only some uses of such resistors are telephony or calibration applications. Source: http://www.resistorguide.com/metal-film-resistor/