PURPOSE: To obtain a thermal head wherein contact resistance between a resistor body and an electrode conductor is very small, by closely contacting and forming a thin resistor film of a Ta-SiO2 cermet, a Cr layer, and an Al layer, on an insulating substrate, in this order from the substrate.

CONSTITUTION: On a substrate 1 made of glazed alumina, a thin resistor film 2, which is made of a Ta-SiO2 cermet and has a thickness of 3,000 and area resistance of 500Ω/square, is formed by a sputtering method. On the thin resistor film 2, a Cr layer 8 having a thickness of 700 and an Al layer 9 having a thickness of 1μm are sequentially formed by a vacuum evaporation. Then, the CR layer and the Al layer are etched by a photomechanical process etching method using an ordinary photoresist, and a wire, whose width is 64μm and length is 40mm, are formed. Then, the substrate 1 is inserted in gas plasma including gas containing CF4, and the Ta-SiO2 cermet is etched.