Patent ID: 7777160

Claim:
A method for performing a precise localized resistance tuning of an electrode layer of a layered heater structure, the method comprising: virtually partitioning a pre-determined pattern of the electrode layer into at least one segment; (ii) computing, for each virtually partitioned segment, a local target segment resistance based on segment geometry; (iii) measuring, for each virtually partitioned segment, a local segment resistance; (iv) computing, for each virtually partitioned segment a difference value between said local target segment resistance and said local measured segment resistance; (v) computing, for each virtually partitioned segment, the number of through-thickness perforations with selected size and shape needed to increase the local segment resistance to meet the target segment resistance; and (vi) introducing at least one through-thickness perforation, based on the above calculation, into each of the identified partitioned segments to sufficiently modify the electrical resistance of the identified partitioned segments such that the modified electrical local segment resistance does not deviate from said target segment resistance by an amount exceeding a absolute value of an pre-determined threshold.