Patent ID: 8471673

Claim:
A varistor comprising: a varistor element body comprised of a semiconducting ceramic material to exhibit the nonlinear current-voltage characteristic; a plurality of internal electrodes arranged in the varistor element body so as to sandwich a partial region of the varistor element body between the internal electrodes; and a plurality of external electrodes arranged on the surface of the varistor element body and connected to the corresponding internal electrodes, wherein the external electrode has a sintered electrode layer formed by attaching an electroconductive paste containing an alkali metal to the surface of the varistor element body and sintering the electroconductive paste, and wherein the varistor element body has a high-resistance region formed by diffusing the alkali metal in the electroconductive paste into the varistor element body from an interface between the surface of the varistor element body and the sintered electrode layer.