In this video, our host Richard Zuratt puts the stability of the three major resistor technologies — foil, thin, and thick film — to the test. Each resistor type is subjected to an overload pulse and its change in resistance value is recorded. Due to the homogeneous nature of the VPG Bulk Metal® Foil resistor, it is the only of the three to experience no change from the high power pulse. This demonstrated performance makes foil resistors the technology of choice for critical applications where long-term stability and survivability are paramount.

All resistors that are based on nichrome, which is a category that includes both thin film devices and Bulk Metal Foil resistors, are susceptible to electro-chemical corrosion or etching when placed in a high humidity environment and powered with a very low wattage. But since the nichrome element of a Bulk Metal Foil resistor is hundreds of times thicker than the element in a thin film device with the same value, it will last much longer under these conditions. This video shows the actual etching process and survival times for thin film and foil nichrome resistive elements as they are tested in 100% humidity conditions.

Surface-mount resistors suffer physical stresses when exposed to high vibration or thermally unstable environments. Failure modes commonly occur in welds, solder joints, connectors, and terminations, ultimately resulting in circuit failure. In this demonstration, vibration-table-mounted boards are subjected to ±2° deflection 25 times per second and monitored for any ΔR > 0.1%. All the chip resistors failed in 2 to 12 minutes (8K to 16K cycles). But the Alpha MPP molded Bulk Metal® Z-Foil resistor with flexible terminations experienced over a million cycles with no change in resistance.