Nichrome Resistors Deliver Reliability at Lower Cost

摘要

An alternative to expensive tantalum nitride resistors, these precision, moisture-resistant components can perform voltage division or setting of gain in power-supply circuits. Metal exposed to moisture generally results in undesirable corrosion. Just as it can occur on the terminals of a car battery, it also can occur on a precision thin-film resistor in a critical portion of a circuit. For a battery, the simple solution is regular maintenance and a wire brush. However, until recently, the only proven solution for nichrome resistors was to replace them with thin-film resistors having tantalum nitride elements.