The Essentials of Thick Film Technology

Thick film screen printable pastes are used to develop thick film circuits on a variety of substrate baseplate materials. These substrate materials are higher in thermal conductivity and allow for higher density circuits where space is at a premium. Thick film electronic circuits are also ideal for use in environmentally adverse conditions, for example when the range of ambient temperatures are at extremes, such as 150 degrees centigrade to minus 50 degrees centigrade, or when ambient moisture is extremely high.

Thick film circuits originated in the 1950s and are understood as one of the earliest forms of microelectronics-enabling technologies. At that time, they offered an alternative approach to printed circuit board technology and still offer the ability to miniaturize integrated circuits. By the mid-1960s, thick film was becoming more popular and by the year 1975, hundreds of thousands of ceramic thick film substrates were produced for miniaturized potentiometers and high-reliability circuits.