PURPOSE: To reduce the amount of heat accumulated in a thermal head, by using a substrate material consisting of SiC or comprising SiC as a main constituent for a substrate of a heating element.

CONSTITUTION: An SiC-Si substrate material obtained by incorporating Si into an SiC powder followed by reactive sintering is used as a material for the substrate 1 of the heating element. A glass glaze layer is provided on the substrate material as an electrically and thermally insulating layer 2. In providing the glass glaze layer, a glass material having a coefficient of thermal expansion of smaller than that of the SiC-Si substrate material is used. Materials for the heati ng element 3 and electrodes 4a, 4b can be selected without any restriction from those materials which are conventionally used. When a material having a coefficient of thermal expansion of smaller than that of the glass material is used for an abrasion-resistant layer 5, a heating element having favorable resistance to thermal pulse can be obtained.