Patent ID: 7414515

Claim:
A PTC element comprising an element body in which an electroconductive filler is dispersed in a crystalline polymer, and a pair of lead terminals thermocompression-bonded with the element body in between, wherein one of the lead terminals extends from a first side of the PTC element in a first direction and the other of the lead terminals extends from a second side opposite to the first side and in a second direction opposite to the first direction, wherein each of the pair of lead terminals has an overlapping region overlapping and thermocompression-bonded with the element body, and a nonoverlapping region not overlapping with the element body, wherein the nonoverlapping region of each of the pair of lead terminals has a wide portion and a narrow portion, the wide portion has a width larger than the narrow portion across a direction which the lead terminal extends from the element body, the narrow portion has a width smaller than the wide portion across said direction, wherein the wide portion and the narrow portion are adjacent each other and located in a same plane, and wherein the overlapping region and the narrow portion are located on opposite sides of the wide portion, wherein a width of the overlapping region across said direction is equal to the width of the wide portion.