Datec Thick Film Heating Element Technology

Our clients in the USA and Canada benefit from our thick film heating elements printed directly onto mica, aluminum, or glass resulting in a more uniform heated surface with better heat transfer and reliability.

Whether you’re improving an existing product with a drop-in heating replacement, or creating an entirely new product, Datec’s thick film technology is the ideal alternative for Polyimide, silicone, foil, or traditional thick film heaters.

Here Are Some Benefits of Thick Film Heaters

Rapid Heat-Up and Thermal Cycling

Get the fast, precise, and ultra-efficient heating you need, when you need it..

Reliable

Datec thick film heats consistently and evenly on a variety of substrates, providing dependable heating for the long-term across numerous industries.

Precise, Uniform Temperature

Datec thick film heats consistently and evenly on aluminum, mica, glass, and steel.

Low Profile Saves Space

Our heating elements can be printed directly onto most substrates, saving space, materials, and cost.

Energy Consumption

Thick film heating elements have low thermal mass and conserve energy without compromising performance.

High Watt
Density

Datec heaters can be designed up to 2-10x the watt density of other heating elements, such as silicone rubber heaters.

Low and High Voltage Compatibility

Compact and portable, Datec thick film technology has low-voltage options as low as 3.7 volts and high-voltage capability up to 800 volts.

Dual Voltage Applications

Datec thick film heaters can be designed to be dual voltage capable, with 120v/220v dual voltage capabilities in one heater.

Datec Thick Film Elements Can Be Printed Directly on Substrates

Other Substrates

Metal

Other Substrates, such as stainless steels, alumina, aluminum nitride, and quartz

Datec thick film heating elements are versatile and broadly compatible with most substrates because of the low processing temperature (under 400°C), which allows the heater circuits to be deposited on materials like aluminum and other aluminum alloys with low melting temperatures.

The heater microstructure of our heating elements is also inherently flexible, allowing heating elements to be deposited on substrates with high CTE (Coefficient of Thermal Expansion).

How Do We Do It?


At Datec, we manufacture our heating elements and pastes in-house. This allows us to create our own custom pastes for you, with the unique capabilities you need. Our ability to customize our pastes enables us to provide our customers with a competitive advantage over their competition.

Our North American facility has two thick film production lines, as well as industry-leading research, testing, and development capabilities. We can manufacture our heating elements from a few prototypes up to large batches of 100,000 parts, and because we do it all in-house in North America, you won’t have to wait for overseas production and shipping.

Our Thick Film Heating Element Manufacturing Process

Our thick film technology is comprised of resistor and conductor thick film pastes that we screen-print directly onto the substrate of choice, resulting in an ultra-thin advanced thermal component. Because of the low-profile and quick mounting, our heating elements can be seamlessly integrated into existing products.

At Datec, our thick film manufacturing process can be broken down into 8 steps.

  1. Paste Manufacturing & Quality AssuranceMake the paste that will be used during the heater manufacturing process
  2. Substrate Forming & Surface PreparationWe can form the substrate to any shape the customer requires
  3. Dielectric ApplicationIf using electro conductive materials like aluminum, we would use a dielectric layer
  4. Conductor Layer PrintingScreen print the traces that carry the electrical current
  5. Resistor Layer PrintingRepeat the process for the thick film circuits
  6. Finish Coat Layer PrintingApply finishing coat to protect the resistor layer from damage and wear
  7. Electrical ConnectionAttach electrical wires to heaters to energize the resistor circuit
  8. Finish Product Quality AssuranceFinal inspection and tests to ensure it has been assembled properly

Check Out Our Video and See How We Do It

This video highlights our North American, in-house manufacturing process and how we develop our heating elements and thick film pastes.

At Datec, we help product designers and engineers solve their thermal design challenges using thick film heating technology.

Contact us to learn more about Datec and our heating solutions.

Learn More About How Our Industry-Leading Heating Technology Can Help You

Datec Coating Corporation