Surface-modified RuO2-based thick film resistors using Nd:YAG laser

Abstract

An RuO2-based thick film resistor (TFR) is a cermet-type resistor which consists of RuO2 particles and glass. Paste containing organic vehicles is printed onto an insulating substrate, and subsequent firing at about 900 °C makes the cermet-type resistors. TFRs are widely utilized as electrical resistive materials in electric devices such as hybrid ICs (integrated circuits) [see, for example, R. W. Vest, Ceram. Bull. 65, 631 (1986)]. The features of an advanced laser application process to control the electrical resistivity of the TFRs were proposed. This new process is an application of surface-modification using laser beams. In this paper, a mechanism of the surface-modification of the TFR is considered using results of morphology observation, x-ray diffraction (XRD), and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). The following points should be noticed. (1) In the surface-modifying process using normal mode pulse Nd:YAG laser beams, glass in the TFR is modified and supersaturated with ruthenium impurities because of rapid heating and rapid cooling rates in the irradiation process; the specific resistivity of the modified glass is extremely decreased, estimated at 10−3 Ω cm at most. (2) No new crystalline phase in the ruthenium-oxygen system is detected after the surface modification by results of x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. (3) The valence state of the ruthenium ions in the modified glass is more positively charged than that in crystalline RuO2 , while the valence states of lead and oxygen ions in the modified glass are more negatively charged than in as-fired glass before surface modification according to the results obtained by x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. It is suggested that if ruthenium ions introduce electrons into the modified glass and if these electrons behave as itinerant electron carriers in the modified glass, a decrease in the resistivity of TFR after the surface modification is quite reasonable for the results of XPS.