The Metal Industries Research & Development Centre (MIRDC) has assembled companies and institutes to launch the “Metal Strips Development Alliance for Resistors” with the support from the Reform Traditional Industry-Innovation-Value Added Development Project led by the Department of Industrial Technology, Ministry of Economic Affairs. The purpose is to assist local metal material and resistor components industries to develop high-value, low-resistance metal strips. Involved manufacturers and research institutes include YAGEO Corporation, Minchali Metal Industry Co., Ltd., Laser & Electron Beam Inc., Limo System Technology Co., Ltd. and National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center. The Alliance aims to launch an integration platform for the research and development of low-resistance metal strips, provide solutions on materials, components, systems, modules and more, while speeding up industrial integration to ultimately improve the overall value of the traditional metal electronic components industry.
MIRDC indicated that its past research, development and applications of high energy beam welding have laid a solid foundation for further development. Therefore, with the establishment of the “Metal Strips Development Alliance for Resistors,” initial efforts will be put into the research and development of hetero-bond metal strips manufacturing technology. The expertise of alliance members shall be incorporated to introduce a supply chain that links material manufacturing and strips forming to hetero-material welding and micro resistor applications. As a result, the added value of materials and resistor components will be improved, in turn accelerating and strengthening the global competitiveness of local strips and resistor components industries.
The high-value low resistance metal strips are made with different copper alloys welded together. Compared with ceramic resistors, they withstand higher over-current and are eco-friendly, so they are more suitable than ceramic resistors for high-current equipment like power suppliers, transformers and industrial computers. Moreover, they can be applied to micro resistors used in smart phones/tablets, electric vehicles, renewable energy and smart grid, and cloud servers. MIRDC, together with the alliance members, will be dedicated to the development of critical technology including high-end raw materials for micro resistors, mass production of hetero-metal strips, application certification of micro resistor and others. In the future, the alliance will invite the other companies to join the development of critical equipment to improve the overall technological capabilities of the industry.