Transparent Electric Heaters Based on Photoresist-Derived Carbon Micropatterns on Quartz Plates

In this study, transparent electric heaters (TEHs) are developed based on photoresist-derived carbon micropatterns (CMs). Well-defined SU-8 micropatterns formed by deep UV lithography are carbonized in a tube furnace under an inert atmosphere. The resulting CMs are found to have pseudo-graphitic structures containing both graphitic and disordered structures. The optical transmittance and electrical conductivity of the CMs increase as their thickness increases. The 102 nm thick CMs exhibit a good transmittance of 78% at 550 nm and a high electrical conductivity of 2.51 x 10(2) S cm(-1). As TEHs, the 102 nm thick CMs demonstrate a maximum temperature of 116 degrees C with a maximum heating rate of 8.78 degrees C s(-1) at an applied voltage of 60 V and a low electricity consumption of 1.02 W cm(-2), which are comparable to the electric heating performance of TEHs prepared with carbon nanomaterials. Therefore, the CMs fabricated in this study can be utilized as electrodes for TEHs in various medical, industrial, consumer, and automobile applications.