Resistor Networks & Arrays

Quick Answer

A resistor network is several resistive elements in one package, printed on a single substrate. Arrays come bussed, with every element sharing a common pin, or isolated, with independent pairs. The reason to buy one is rarely board space: it is that the elements match each other and drift together.

Absolute tolerance in an array is ordinary, often no better than a single resistor off the same reel. The specification that earns the part is the ratio. Elements laid down in one printing, trimmed in one operation and sitting a fraction of a millimetre apart hold their ratio far tighter than either holds its own value, and they share a temperature, so whatever moves one moves the other by nearly as much. Wherever the circuit cares about a ratio rather than a value, that tracking is worth more than absolute precision: a divider setting a reference, a gain-setting pair around an amplifier, a ladder feeding a converter.

Bussed arrays suit pull-ups and pull-downs, where one common rail and eight equal elements replace eight parts and eight placements. Isolated arrays suit dividers and series termination, where each pair has to stay independent. Both are ordinary series and parallel networks once you know which pin reaches what, and the internal schematic on the datasheet is the thing to read first.

Watch the power rating, which arrives as two numbers: one per element, and a lower total for the whole package. Loading every element to its individual rating at once will exceed the package figure, and the part then runs hot for a reason the per-element line never mentioned.