Chip-type surge absorber and method for producing the same

A chip-type surge absorber, comprising:

• an insulating substrate in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped;
• an insulating hermetic cap open at a bottom side thereof, for forming, together with said insulating substrate, a box-shaped hermetically sealed cavity filled with a discharge gas;
• terminal electrodes disposed on both ends of said hermetically sealed cavity and extending to and over on side walls of said hermetically sealed cavity;
• two to five pairs of discharge electrodes disposed within said hermetically sealed cavity, having a discharge gas formed between each pair of discharge electrodes, and electrically connected to the corresponding terminal electrodes;
• and
• connection surfaces formed in a slope and configured to increase a connection area for a connection between the discharge electrodes and the terminal electrodes.

A chip-type surge absorber, comprising:

• an insulating substrate in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped having a cavity extending through said insulating substrate;
• a pair of terminal electrodes which are disposed on the respective ends of said insulating substrate such that said cavity is closed by said terminal electrodes;
• a hermetically sealed cavity which is enclosed by said insulating substrate and said terminal electrodes and which is filled with a discharge gas;
• and
• a pair of discharge electrodes which are formed within said hermetically sealed cavity and on one inner surface of said insulating substrate such that a discharge gap is formed between said discharge electrodes, said discharge electrodes being electrically connected with corresponding said terminal electrodes,
• wherein a relay electrode for relaying an arc discharge is formed within said hermetically sealed cavity and on the other inner surface of said insulating substrate such that said relay electrode is isolated from said discharge electrodes and said terminal electrodes.

A chip-type surge absorber, comprising:

• a heat-resistant insulating substrate;
• a pair of discharge electrodes which are formed on said heat-resistant insulating substrate such that a small gap is formed between said discharge electrodes;
• and
• a hermetic cap which is adhesively connected to said insulating substrate such that said small gap is enclosed in a hermetically sealed space formed by said hermetic cap,
• wherein a stripe-shaped insulating layer having heat resistance lower at least than the heat resistance of said insulating substrate is formed between said insulating substrate and said discharge electrodes.

A method of producing a chip-type surge absorber, comprising the steps of:

• forming a stripe-shaped insulating layer on a flat substrate surface of a heat-resistant insulating substrate, said insulating layer having lower heat resistance than the heat resistance of said insulating substrate;
• forming an electrically conductive film having the same stripe shape as said stripe-shaped insulating layer on said stripe-shaped insulating layer having low heat resistance into a multilayer structure;
• and
• cutting said electrically conductive film together with said insulating layer having low heat resistance in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction by means of laser cutting, into two portions which serve as a pair of discharge electrodes spaced from each other by a small gap.

A chip-type surge absorber, comprising:

• an insulating substrate;
• discharge electrodes which are formed at opposing positions on said insulating substrate such that a discharge gap is formed between the discharge electrodes;
• and
• dielectric layers disposed between said insulating substrate and respective said discharge electrodes,
• wherein said dielectric layers have a relative dielectric constant greater than that of the relative dielectric constant of said insulating substrate, and
• at least a part of each of said dielectric layers is exposed in said discharge gap.