Feasibility Study of GE-MOV (trademark) Protection for Hybrid Circuits.

This report summarizes the experimental work that was performed to establish the feasibility of combining the thick film varistor technology with existing hybrid circuit technology such that useful hybrid circuit level transient protection techniques would result. In order to determine the compatibility of the thick film varistor technology with the existing hybrid circuit technology, two different thick film varistor test patterns were designed and fabricated. The first test pattern was made utilizing a dedicated fabrication process at General Electric Corporate Research and Development Center. The results from this test pattern were used as a baseline with which to compare later results. A second test pattern was fabricated at General Electric, Space Division. This test pattern was fabricated using an existing thick film Birox resistor process. These two test patterns were then evaluated for their electrical characteristics at DC and at one microsecond pulse width. The characteristics that were measured included the I-V curve, DC and pulse damage threshold and the long term stability. Using these results a procedure was developed to design MOV to protect hybrid circuits. Author