Possibility of PCBs' miniaturization by using thick film polymer resistors

This paper is focused on possibility of printed circuit boards' (PCBs) miniaturization by using thick film polymer resistors to fulfill requirements of final application. This paper places importance on miniaturization in Z-axis but nevertheless size of PCB in X and Y-axes could be decreased by using the same principle too. Commonly used surface-mounted devices (SMDs) placed on the top of PCB were substituted by thick film resistors which are placed on the bottom of PCB where SMDs are not assembled to decrease thickness. Various approaches are used during screen printing process to achieve tolerance of miniaturized resistors less than 5% and to improve long term stability of thick film resistors without necessity of using trimming.