be covered by coating 34 and resistor 26 will be left uncoated in order to allow electrical contact with a conductive contact not shown resistor 26 may have some abrasion resistance or lubricity characteristics which are unnecessary with resistors 24 once resistors 24 and 26 are applied to circuit board 12 and are properly cured a coating 34 is applied to selected portions of circuit board 12 as represented by reference number 32 certain sections such as uncoated areas 28 and 30 are not coated by coating 34 to allow for subsequent electrical interaction with other electrical components or for interconnection with other electrical conductors referring to fig2 and 3 there is shown resistor 24 with coating 34 thereon coating 34 may be an encapsulating compound a solder mask or a dielectric material coating 34 is completely or at least substantially impermeable to gases and vapors the application of coating 34 reduces or eliminates gas and vapor contact with resistors 24 moisture and other chemical contaminants can affect the resistivity of resistors 24 and cause a shift in the electrical characteristics in the prior art resistors 24 were not coated to allow for heat dissipation however testing of uncoated and coated resistors has demonstrated a reduction in the variability of resistors when protected from moisture and chemical elements tables 1 and 2 that follow illustrate shifts in resistive values for 16 and 32 ohm test resistors that were exposed to a humid environment a set of thick film resistors having coating 34 applied was tested.