Life characteristics of carbon-film resistors after 12,000 hours of operation

The development of carbon-film resistors since World War II has provided the electronics industry with a reasonably priced semiprecision resistor.1,2 The film resistors are smaller, lighter, cheaper, and have better frequency characteristics than precision wire-wound resistors. They are not as accurate as precision wire-wound resistors, and the temperature coefficient is still undergoing improvement, but the film resistor can perform an important function in filling the needs for a semiprecision resistor.3