Patent Publication Number: US-2001000215-A1

Title: Chip device, and method of making the same

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       1. 1. Field of the Invention  
       2. The present invention relates to a chip device such as a chip resistor device and a manufacturing method therefor, in which the high density is easily realized. More specifically, the present invention relates to a chip device and a manufacturing method therefor, in which the resistivity of the chip resistor device is constantly maintained even without using silver for lowering the self resistance in portions other than the upper electrode, thereby curtailing the manufacturing cost of the chip resistor.  
       3. 2. Description of the Prior Art  
       4. At present, the chip resistor devices are widely used, and the reason is to realize a high density of the electronic parts, and to make the product light, simple and miniature. In the field of resistors, the use of the chip resistor device tends to be drastically increased.  
       5. A conventional chip resistor device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,065 (dated Jan. 6, 1997), and this chip resistor device is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2.  
       6. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, upon a chip substrate  110 , there are printed an upper electrode  122  and a resistance film  130 . Upon the resistance film  130  and the upper electrode  122 , there are printed two coating layers  140   a  and  140   b  so as to protect the resistance film  130 , and there are also printed a pair of auxiliary upper electrodes  122   a  each having a cut portion C so as to make it possible to easily adjust the resistance characteristics of the chip resistor device  100 . On each of the both side faces of the chip substrate  110 , there is formed a side electrode  124 , while a terminal electrode  150  is formed on each of the side electrodes  124 .  
       7. Thus, if a power is supplied through a circuit pattern, the power passes through the terminal electrode  150 , the side electrode  124 , the auxiliary electrode and the upper electrode  122   a  and  122 , and the resistance film  130 , thereby determining the resistance characteristics of the chip resistor device  100 . Particularly after and during the manufacture, the total resistance value of the chip resistor device can be precisely adjusted by means of the cut portion C of the auxiliary upper electrode  122   a.    
       8. In this conventional chip resistor device  100 , as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the total resistance value can be adjusted after and during the manufacture of the chip resistor device  100  by means of the cut portion C of the auxiliary upper electrode  122   a  as described above. However, the power which is supplied from the circuit pattern of the circuit board passes through the terminal electrode  150 , the side electrode  124 , the auxiliary upper electrode  122   a,  the upper electrode  122  and the resistance film  130 . Therefore if the resistivities of the respective electrodes are high, the resistance characteristics become defective. As a result, a large amount of silver (Ag) which shows the least resistivity has to be used, and this causes an increase of the manufacturing cost.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       9. The present invention is intended to overcome the above described disadvantages of the conventional technique.  
       10. Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide a chip resistor device and a manufacturing method therefor, in which a portion directly contacting to a terminal electrode (contacting to a circuit board) is necessarily provided so as to form a perfect bypass signal supply path. Thus electrodes other than the upper electrode can be made of materials other than silver, and therefore, the manufacturing cost for the chip resistor device can be decreased.  
       11. In achieving the above object, the chip device according to the present invention includes: a chip block having an upper face and a pair of mutually oppositely facing side faces; an electrode part having an upper electrode formed on the upper face and on the side faces of the chip block, and having a side electrode formed on the side faces of the chip block; a special electrical property layer connected to the upper electrode of the upper face of the chip block; at least one or more protecting layers formed upon the special electrical property layer to protect it; at least one or more terminal electrode layers formed on the electrode part of the chip block, and solder-connected to a circuit pattern of a circuit board; and a terminal connection part formed on the surface of the upper electrode to be directly connected to the terminal electrode at least at one point.  
       12. In another aspect of the present invention, the method for manufacturing a chip device according to the present invention includes the steps of: preparing an alumina substrate; screen-printing a plurality of lower electrodes on a lower face of the round alumina block in accordance with standards of chip resistors, and baking the lower electrodes; screen-printing a plurality of upper electrodes on an upper face of the alumina substrate in accordance with standards of chip resistors, and baking the upper electrodes; printing special electrical property layers on an upper face of the alumina block so as to be connected to the upper electrodes, and baking them; printing at least one or more protecting layers with a certain width upon the special electrical property layer to protect it by using a glass material, and baking them; breaking the alumina substrate in a lateral direction into a plurality of pieces to form a pair of mutually oppositely facing side faces, and carrying out a dipping process to print side electrodes of a certain length on the side faces of the pieces thus cut so as to form terminal connection parts contacting at least at one point to the upper electrodes, and baking them; and breaking the pieces (thus laterally cut) in a longitudinal direction to form a plurality of chip blocks, and carrying out a plating process to make a terminal electrode directly connected to the upper electrode at least at one point through the terminal connection part.  
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     13. The above object and other advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail the preferred embodiment of the present invention with reference to the attached drawings in which:  
     14.FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional chip resistor device;  
     15.FIGS. 2 a  and  2   b  are sectional views taken along lines I—I and II—II of FIG. 1;  
     16.FIG. 3 is a partly cut-away perspective view of the chip resistor device according to the present invention;  
     17.FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the chip resistor device of the present invention installed on a circuit board;  
     18.FIGS. 5 a  and  5   b  are plan views showing the terminal connection part of the chip resistor device according to the present invention;  
     19.FIGS. 6 a  to  6   f  are schematic perspective views showing the manufacturing process for the chip resistor device according to the present invention;  
     20.FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram showing the signal bypassing chip resistor device according to the present invention.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
     21.FIG. 3 is a partly cut-away perspective view of the chip resistor device according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the chip resistor device of the present invention installed on a circuit board. FIGS. 5 a  and  5   b  are plan views showing the first and second terminal connection parts S 1  and S 2  of the chip resistor device according to the present invention.  
     22. The chip resistor device  1  according to the present invention includes: a chip block  10  having an upper face  12  and a pair of mutually oppositely facing side faces  14 ; an electrode part  20  having an upper electrode  22  formed on the upper face  12  of the chip block  10 , and having a side electrode  24  formed on the side faces  14  of the chip block  10 ; a special electrical property layer  30  connected to the upper electrode  22  of the upper face  12  of the chip block  10 ; at least one or more protecting layers  40   a  and  40   b  formed upon the special electrical property layer  30  to protect it; at least one or more terminal electrode layers  50   a  and  50   b  formed on the electrode part  20  of the chip block  10 , and solder-connected to a circuit pattern  62  of a circuit board  60  so as to make it possible to install the chip resistor device  1 .  
     23. The upper electrode  22  has a terminal connection part S which is directly connected to the terminal electrode  50  at least at one point. The terminal connection part S consists of either a first terminal connection part S 1  which is formed in the perpendicular direction substantially relative to a lengthwise direction (y direction) of the chip block  10 , or a second terminal connection part S 2  which is formed in the lengthwise direction of the chip block, and substantially on the both sides (x direction) of the protecting layer  40 ), or consists of both of the first and second terminal connection parts S 1  and S 2 .  
     24. The first terminal connection part S 1  has to satisfy D 1 &gt; D 2 , where D 1  is the length of the upper electrode, and D 2  is the length of the side electrode. The second terminal connection part S 2  has to satisfy H 1 &gt;H 2 , where H 1  is the width of the upper electrode, and H 2  is the width of the protecting layer. The protecting layer  40  may be provided in an oval form.  
     25. Further, the upper electrode  22 , the special electrical layer  30  and the protecting layer  40  are screen-printed, and the side face electrode  24  are printed by applying a dipping process, while the terminal electrode  50  of the electrode part  20  is formed by applying a plating process.  
     26. The upper electrode  22  contains 60 wt % or more of silver (Ag), and the side face electrode  24  contains 30 wt % or less of silver (Ag), 0.5 wt % or more of copper oxide (CuO), iron (Fe), cobalt (Co) and, glass materials and resins. Or the side face electrode  24  may contain no silver, but may contain nickel (Ni) or carbon (C).  
     27. Further, on the bottom face  16  of the chip block  10 , there is formed a lower electrode  26  on which the side electrode  24  and the terminal electrode  50  are formed. The lower electrode  26  contains 40 wt % or less of silver (Ag), 20 wt % or more of copper oxide (CuO), iron (Fe), cobalt (Co) and, glass materials and resins. Or the lower electrode  26  may contain no silver, but may contain nickel (Ni) or carbon (C).  
     28. Now the present invention will be described as to its manufacturing method.  
     29.FIGS. 6 a  to  6   f  are schematic perspective views showing the manufacturing process for the chip resistor device according to the present invention.  
     30. First as shown in FIG. 6 a,  an alumina substrate  10 ′ is prepared, and the alumina substrate  10 ′ contains 96% or more of alumina (Al 2 O 3 ). Further, the block  10 ′ has a plurality of lateral and longitudinal lines so that the alumina substrate  10 ′ may be cut into a plurality of chip blocks  10  in accordance with the standards of the chip resistor device  1 . On the bottom face  16  of the alumina substrate  10 ′, there are screen-printed (mesh 250 T) a plurality of lower electrodes  26  with certain widths and lengths in the x and y directions in accordance with the standards of the chip resistor device  1 . Then the structure is baked at a temperature of about 600° C., but the lower electrodes may not be printed depending on the kind of the chip resistor device  1 .  
     31. Then as shown in FIG. 6 b,  the alumina substrate  10 ′ is set upside down, and on the upper face  12  of the block  10 ′, there are screen-printed (mesh 305 T) a plurality of upper electrodes  22  like the lower electrodes  26  in accordance with the standards of the chip resistor device  1 . Then the structure is baked at a temperature of about 600° C., and under this condition, the upper electrodes  22  are printed by using a paste containing 60 wt % or more of silver (Ag).  
     32. Then as illustrated in the detailed portion of FIG. 6 b,  special electrical property layers  30  (which are resistors) are screen-printed between the upper electrodes  22  so that the upper electrodes may be electrically conducted to each other. Then the structure is baked at a temperature of about 800° C. The layers  30  are formed by using a paste of ruthenium oxide (RuO 2 ) or by stacking resistor films. Or in the case of a jumper resistor, the special electrical property layers  30  are printed in straight lines simultaneously with the upper electrodes  22 .  
     33. Under this condition, the special electrical property layers  30  actually decide the resistance characteristics of the chip resistor device  1 , and therefore, their width, their length and their thickness are important. During the manufacture of the chip resistor device, after printing the layers  30 , the structure is made to undergo through a trimming process, and is partly cut to adjust the resistance value of the chip resistor device  1 .  
     34. Then, after the printing of the layers  30  and the completion of the baking, protecting layers  40  are screen-printed with certain widths (H 2 ) (FIG. 5) to protect the layers  30 . Then the structure is baked at a temperature of about 600° C. Usually the protecting layers  40  are made of a glass material, and depending on the kind of the chip resistor device  1 , the protecting layers may consist of one or more sub-layers. That is, first and second protecting sub-layers  40   a  and  40   b  are sequentially printed, and the product number is printed on the first protecting sub-layer  40   a  before printing the second protecting sub-layer  40   b.  Or the product number is printed on the second protecting sub-layer  40   b  before printing a third protecting sub-layer (not illustrated).  
     35. Then as shown in FIGS. 3 c  and  3   d,  after the firing of the lower and upper electrodes  26  and  22 , the special electrical property layers  30  and the protecting layers  40 , the alumina substrate  10 ′ is cut in the lateral direction along the mentioned lateral lines to form lateral blocks  10 ″. Thus side faces  14  are formed on each of the lateral blocks  10 ″, and then, side electrodes  24  are formed on the upper and lower electrodes  22  and  26 .  
     36. Then as shown in FIG. 6 d,  the terminal portion of the lateral alumina block  10 ″ is dipped into a paste so as to form a side electrode  24  on the terminal portion  14  of the lateral alumina block  10 ″. As it will be described in detail later, the side electrodes  24  has a certain length D 2  (FIG. 5). The length D 2  is same as the dipping depth of the alumina lateral block  10 ″ in the dipping process.  
     37. Further, as shown in FIG. 6 d,  it is important that the side electrodes  24  should not cover the entire areas of the upper electrodes  22 , but a part of the upper electrodes  22  should be exposed. As will be described later in detail, the exposure of a part of the upper electrodes  22  is for bypassing the electrical signals.  
     38. That is, as shown in FIGS. 5 a  and  5   b,  in forming the terminal exposure parts S between the upper electrodes  22  and the side electrodes  24 , there are sequentially formed first and second terminal connection parts S 1  and S 2 , or they are simultaneously formed. In the first terminal connection part S 1 , the length D 1  of the upper electrode  22  is made longer than the length D 2  of the side electrode  24 . Ultimately, D 1 −D 2  becomes the first terminal connection part S 1 . In forming the second terminal connection part S 2 , the length D 1  of the upper electrode  22  is made longer than the length D 2  of the side electrode  24 , and the width H 1  of the upper electrode  22  is made larger than the width H 2  of the protecting layer  40 . Ultimately, H 1 −H 2  becomes the second terminal connection part S 2 .  
     39. Then as shown in FIGS. 6 e  and  6   f,  the lateral blocks  10 ″ are cut along the mentioned longitudinal lines to form chip blocks  10  which have the size of the chip resistor device  1 . Then on the electrode part of each of the chip blocks  10 , there is formed a terminal electrode  50  by applying a plating process. This terminal electrode  50  is soldered to a circuit pattern  62  (FIG. 4) of the circuit board  60 , for serving as a terminal of the chip resistor device  1 . This terminal electrodes  50  may consist of first and second terminal electrodes  50   a  and  50   b  (sequentially formed) (FIG. 4). It is important that during the plating of the terminal electrode  50 , the terminal electrode  50  contacts through the terminal connection part S to the upper electrode  24  at least at one point.  
     40. Accordingly, the side and lower electrodes  24  and  26  contain 30 and 40 wt % or less of silver (Ag), 0.5 and 20 wt % or more of copper oxide (CuO), iron (fe), cobalt (Co) and, glass materials and resins. Or they may contain no silver but only contain nickel (Ni) or carbon (C). In the case of a two-layer terminal electrode  50 , the first terminal electrode  50   a  is formed by applying a plating process and by using Ni, and the second terminal electrode  50   b  is formed by applying a plating process and by using Sn and Pb. In this manner, as will be described in examples 1 and 2, the side and lower electrodes contain no silver or extremely small amounts of silver so as to increase the self resistance value. However, as described above, owing to the terminal connection part S, the electrical signals which have been supplied to the terminal electrode  50  are completely bypassed through the upper electrode  22  which contains 60 wt % or more of silver (Ag). Consequently, the resistance characteristics of the chip resistor device  1  become constant. Because the expensive silver needs not be used, the manufacturing cost is curtailed.  
     41. The other ingredients versus the silver content of the side electrode  24  are shown in Table 1 below.  
                               TABLE 1                       Silver content   CuO,Fe,Co   Glass materials   Others   Total                  30 or less   0.5 or more    Minimum 10   ″   100       25 or less   20 or more   Minimum 10   ″   ″       15 or less   30 or more   Minimum 10   ″   ″        5 or less   40 or more   Minimum 10   ″   ″                          
 
     42. The other ingredients versus the silver content of the lower electrode  26  are shown in Table 2 below.  
                               TABLE 2                       Silver content   CuO,Fe,Co   Glass materials   Others   Total                  40 or less   20 or more   Minimum 3   ″   100       30 or less   40 or more   Minimum 3   ″   ″       20 or less   50 or more   Minimum 3   ″   ″       10 or less   60 or more   Minimum 3   ″   ″                          
 
     43. As can be seen in Tables 1 and 2 above, in the side electrode  24  and the lower electrode  26 , the silver contents can be adjusted depending on the kind of the chip resistor device  1 , and the electrodes  24  and  26  may contain no silver at all. Preferably the silver contents may be reduced as far as possible to save the manufacturing cost. The respective ingredients may be adjusted depending on the kinds of the chip resistor device  1 . Particularly, as can be seen in Tables 1 and 2, the side and lower electrodes  24  and  26  contain no Pb at all unlike the conventional method, thereby eliminating the harmful elements (harmful to the human bodies). Further, the side electrode  24  is dipping-printed, and the lower electrode  26  is screen-printed, with the result that there is a difference in the content of the glass material.  
     44. Meanwhile referring to FIG. 7, the completely signal bypassing chip resistor device  1  will be described.  
     45. If the self resistance value R22 of the upper electrode  22  is extremely low, even if the self resistance values R24 and R26 of the side and lower electrodes  24  and  26  are high, that is, if the terminal connection part S is formed on the upper electrode  22  as described above, and if the side and lower electrodes  24  and  26  contain 30 and 40 wt % or less of silver, or contain no silver but only Ni or C, then the overall resistance characteristics will satisfy the following formulas 1 and 2:  
               R   total     =           R50   ×     (     R24   +   R26     )         R50   +   R24   +   R26       +   R22     =       R50   ×     (       R24   +   R26       R50   +   R24   +   R26       )       +   R22               &lt;     Formula                 1     &gt;                       
 
     46. where R50, R24, R26&gt;0, and R22, R24, R26 and R50 are the resistance values of the upper, side, lower and terminal electrodes. Therefore, Formula 2 will be satisfied.  
                 R24   +   R26       R50   +   R24   +   R26       &lt;   1           &lt;     Formula                 2     &gt;                       
 
     47. This is because the denominator is larger than the numerator. In a parallel circuit, the total resistance R total  is R50 multiplied by a number smaller than 1. Therefore, even if the self resistance values of R24 and R26 are large, the total resistance value R total  approximately equals to R50+R22 which approximately equals to R22. Thus if the terminal electrode  50  is directly connected to the upper electrode  22 , that is, if the terminal connection part S is formed, then only the upper electrode should be made of the expensive silver, while the other electrodes may not contain silver at all.  
     48. Now the present invention will be described based on actual examples.  
     EXAMPLE 1  
     49. In this example, the chip resistor device  3216  was adopted, and the resistor device had a size of 3.2×1.6 mm, and a resistance of 0.05Ω at the maximum.  
     50. An alumina disc block  10 ′ containing 96% of alumina was prepared. On the lower face  16  of the block  10 ′, a plurality of lower electrodes  26  were printed in a size of 0.35×1.15 mm by using an electrode paste (mesh 303 T). Then the structure was baked at a temperature about 600° C. Then the block  10 ′ was set upside down, and then, upper electrodes  22  were printed on the upper face  12  of the block  10 ′ in a size of 0.85×1.15 mm in accordance with the standards of the chip resistor device in the same manner as that of the lower electrodes  26 . Then the structure was baked.  
     51. Then on the upper face  12  of the block  10 ′, resistors (the layer  30 ) were screen-printed in a size of 1.9×1.0 mm and in a thickness of 18 μm by using a ruthenium oxide paste and by using a mesh 250 T net, so as for the resistors to be connected to the upper electrodes  22 . Then a baking was carried out at a temperature of 800° C. Thereupon, first protecting layers  40   a  were screen-printed in a size of 2×1.2 and in a thickness of 16 μm by using a mesh 305 T net. Then thereupon, second protecting layers  40   b  were screen-printed in a size of 2.2×1.2985 mm and in a thickness of 27-30 μm. Then a baking was carried out at a temperature of about 600° C.  
     52. Then the alumina substrate  10 ′ was breaked in the lateral directions suitably to the length of the chip resistor device  1  so as to form lateral blocks  10 ″. The end portions of the lateral blocks  10 ″ were dipped into a electrode paste, and thus side electrodes  24  were formed in a length of 0.2 mm.  
     53. Thus a terminal connection part S with a size of 0.2 mm was formed on each of the upper electrodes  22 . Then the lateral block  10 ″ was cut in the longitudinal directions, and then, terminal electrodes  50  were formed on the electrodes  22 ,  24  and  26  by applying a plating process through two process steps.  
     54. Then adopting the lower electrode  26  of the chip resistor device  1  as the measuring point, 15 of the chip resistor devices of present invention (having the terminal connection part S on the upper electrode  22 ) and 15 of the conventional chip resistor devices were sampled for measurements. The results of the measurements are shown in Table 3 below.  
                                   TABLE 3                           Self resistance   Resistance       Self resistance               values of side   value of       values of side   Resistance           electrode +   product having       electrode +   value of       Classification   lower electrode   exposed area   Classification   lower electrode   product                                                        Chip resistor   27000   0.02450   Conventional   0.0668   0.02960       device of the   29000   0.02512   chip resistor   0.0523   0.02830       present invention   2400   0.02738   device without   0.0491   0.02810       having terminal   7600   0.02740   terminal   0.0448   0.02790       connection part   9400   0.02820   connection part   0.0891   0.03130           7600   0.02603       0.0478   0.02810           35000   0.02780       0.0422   0.02600           11000   0.02460       0.0484   0.02940           12000   0.02500       0.0450   0.02930           27000   0.02440       0.0453   0.02900           30000   0.02850       0.0330   0.02690           1800   0.02700       0.0430   0.02860           11000   0.02630       0.0485   0.03720           74000   0.02200       0.0437   0.03070           29000   0.02500       0.0478   0.02650       Average   20920   0.02595   Average   0.04979   0.02913                  
 
     55. As shown in Table 3 above, in the case where an exposed area S is present on the upper electrode  22  of the chip resistor device  1 , the average self resistance values of the side and lower electrodes  24  and  26  with the respective silver contents of 30 and 40 wt % were 20.9 KΩ. Meanwhile, the average self resistance values of the side and lower electrodes of the conventional chip resistor device  100  without an exposed area S were 0.0497Ω. However, in the chip resistor device of the present invention, the terminal electrode  50  was directly connected to the upper electrode  22  so as to form a signal bypassing path. Therefore, the chip resistor device of the present invention showed an actual resistance value of 0.02595Ω which was lower than the average resistance value of 0.02913Ω of the conventional chip resistor device  100 .  
     56. Therefore, even if the side and lower electrodes  24  and  26  do not contain silver or do contain silver in small amounts to raise the self resistance values, the resistance characteristics of the chip resistor device of the present invention are stable. If this chip resistor device  1  is used, a monthly saving of several million Korean wons is possible in the case of the chip resistor device  3216 .  
     EXAMPLE 2  
     57. In this example, the case where the side and lower electrodes  24  and  26  contained no silver was compared with the case where the electrodes  24  and  26  contained large amounts of silver. That is, the resistance characteristics of the two cases of a chip resistor device without the terminal connection part S were compared.  
     58. Then adopting the lower electrode  26  of the chip resistor device  1  as the measuring point, 15 of the chip resistor devices were sampled for measurements. In this example, the chip resistor device  1608  (1.6×0.8 mm) was adopted, and measurements were carried out. The measured results are shown in Table 4 below.  
                                   TABLE 4                           Self resistance values           Self resistance values               of non-silver   Resistance       of silver-containing   Resistance           electrode +   value of       side electrode +   value of       Classification   lower electrode   product   Classification   lower electrode   product                                                        Chip resistor   1110   2245   Chip resistor   0.0668   0.02960       device   464   5596   device   0.0523   0.02830           775   1471       0.0491   0.02810           357   1104       0.0448   0.02790           1462   1831       0.0891   0.03130           824   1096       0.0478   0.02810           1875   3338       0.0422   0.02600           1020   1668       0.0484   0.02940           1060   1271       0.0450   0.02930           1360   1945       0.0453   0.02900           421   1570       0.0330   0.02690           1842   0830       0.0430   0.02860           710   1031       0.0485   0.03720           375   0.230       0.0437   0.03070           514   1198       0.0478   0.02650       Average   945   176267   Average   0.04979   0.02913                  
 
     59. As can be seen in Table 4 above, the average self resistance value was 945Ω in the chip resistor device without a terminal connection part S and with side and lower electrodes  24  and  26  containing no silver. Therefore, the resistance value of the chip resistor device  1  was 1.76267Ω which was much higher than 0.02913Ω of the conventional chip resistor device. This shows that if the self resistance is high, and if there is no terminal connection part S, then the signal bypassing path cannot be formed. Therefore, the chip resistor device becomes unstable, and the total resistance value becomes high.  
     60. Accordingly, even if the side and lower electrodes  24  and  26  contain no silver, if there is provided the terminal connection part S for connecting the terminal electrode  50  to the upper electrode  22  at least at one point, then the resistance characteristics of the chip resistor device  1  is constantly maintained, and the manufacturing cost can be saved.  
     61. According to the present invention as described above, a terminal connection part is formed to connect the terminal electrode directly to the upper electrode so as to form a signal bypassing path. Accordingly, the upper electrode which directly contacts with the special electrical property layer should contain silver, but the other electrodes such as the side electrode, the lower electrode and the terminal electrode can be minimized in the silver contents. In spite of this fact, the chip resistor device according to the present invention can maintain a constant resistance value, and ultimately, the manufacturing cost can be curtailed.  
     62. In the above, the present invention was described based on the specific preferred embodiment and the drawings, but it should be apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be added without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention which will be defined in the appended claims.