Patent ID: 8193899

Claim:
A chip-like electric component comprising: an insulating substrate made of ceramic, including a front surface and a back surface facing the front surface; a pair of surface electrodes based on metal glaze, provided at both end portions of the front surface of the insulating substrate; an electrical element layer electrically connected to the pair of surface electrode and formed on the front surface; an insulating protective layer made of an electrical insulating material, the insulating protective layer covering entirely the electrical element layer and partly the pair of surface electrodes adjacent to the electrical element layer; and a thin-film conductive layer for covering at least portions of the surface electrodes that are not covered with the insulating protective layer, the thin-film conductive layer including at least one plated layer, wherein: the pair of surface electrodes are formed so that thicknesses of the pair of surface electrodes increase from the electrical element layer toward end portions of the insulating substrate, which are positioned in a direction in which the pair of surface electrodes are arranged, so as to form a plating reservoir between the pair of surface electrodes and the insulating protective layer, the thin-film conductive layer includes a base conductive layer formed by sputtering or evaporation for covering the portions of the surface electrodes that are not covered with the insulating protective layer and the at least one plated layer formed on the base conductive layer, the base conductive layer including extended conductive portions for covering side surfaces of the end portions of the insulating substrate adjacent to the surface electrodes, and the at least one plated layer including extended plated portions for covering the extended conductive portions; and the extended conductive portions further extend to part of the back surface of the insulating substrate, and the extended plated portions further extend to cover the extended conductive portions which extend to part of the back surface.