Effects of material parameters and processing conditions on high voltage sensitivity of polymer thick film resistors

The effects of material parameters and processing conditions on the resistance drop by high voltage discharge in PVC - graphite thick film resistors are studied in this paper. The resistance drop increased upon an increase in graphite aggregate size, which is a function of material parameters and processing conditions. The resistance drop has been attributed to the dielectrophoretic motion of graphite particles in PVC by the application of high voltages to polymer thick film resistors.