A printed circuit polymer thick film (PTF) resistor (410, 420) includes tolerance control material (425, 426, 440) that substantially surrounds the resistor body (423) and significantly improves the linearity of resistance vs. resistor length, and significantly reduces resistor-to-resistor and board-to-board fabrication variances. In one embodiment (420), the tolerance control material is the same metallic material as the printed circuit conductors (430), and is formed in two finger patterns on each side of the resistor body, each finger pattern connected to one terminal pad (435) of the resistor. A layout cell (700) is used for fabricating the PTF resistor. A method is used for fabricating the PTF resistor.