Long-term reliability was studied for ceramic-based chip resistor networks in concave-pad packages, and isolation integrity was examined for silicon-substrate devices in small-outline integrated circuit packages. Test results indicated sufficient reliability without either absolute resistance or isolation failures after 1000 hours of aging for the ceramic type. Evaluation of some silicon-based devices that caused board-level functional failures revealed that a manufacturing-related problem led to undetected inter-resistor isolation defects. This finding underscores the importance of testing chip resistor networks for both resistance tolerance and isolation integrity to ensure completely functional parts. Thoroughly screening chip resistor networks means "subtle" failures such as inter-resistor isolation defects would be uncovered during device-level testing instead of at the board level where troubleshooting could negatively impact the overall system cost.
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