Susceptor for heating foods in a microwave oven having metallized layer deposited on paper

A susceptor for heating food in a microwave oven where the microwave oven has a predetermined microwave frequency, comprising:

• a dimensionally stable paper substrate;
• and,
• a thin film of metal deposited directly on the paper substrate, the thin film of metal having a complex impedance measured at the microwave frequency of the microwave oven, the real component of the complex impedance being a surface resistance Rs, the thin film of metal having a thickness "t" which may be approximately related to the surface resistance by the following formula:
• Rs=C/s.sub.f (t-to)
• where "s.sub.f " is the film conductivity corrected for mean free path effects, "t" is the total thickness of the metal film deposited on the paper substrate, "to" is the thickness of metal that must be deposited on the paper substrate before the deposition of more metal has an observable electrical effect at a predetermined microwave frequency and is a function of surface roughness AA of the paper substrate, and "C" is a function of surface roughness AA for the metal and determinable empirically using least-squares curve fitting.

A susceptor for heating food in a microwave oven, the microwave oven having a predetermined microwave frequency, comprising:

• a microwave stable paper substrate;
• a thin film of metal deposited directly on the paper substrate;
• and,
• the composite structure defined by the paper substrate and thin film of metal deposited thereon having a complex impedance measured at the microwave frequency of the microwave oven prior to microwave heating, the real part of the complex impedance being a resistive component, the resistive component having a value greater than or equal to 30 ohms per square, and having a value less than 35,000 ohms per square.

A susceptor for heating food in a microwave oven, the microwave oven having a predetermined microwave frequency, comprising:

• a microwave stable paper substrate;
• a thin film of metal deposited directly on the paper substrate;
• and,
• the composite structure defined by the paper substrate and thin film of metal deposited thereon having an absorption measured with a network analyzer at the microwave frequency of the microwave oven prior to microwave heating, the absorption being greater than one percent.

A susceptor for heating food in a microwave oven, the microwave oven having a predetermined microwave frequency, comprising:

• a microwave stable paper substrate;
• a thin film of stainless steel deposited directly on the paper substrate;
• and,
• the composite structure defined by the paper substrate and thin film of stainless steel deposited thereon having a complex impedance measured at the microwave frequency of the microwave oven prior to microwave heating, the real part of the complex impedance being a resistive component, the resistive component having a value greater than 60 ohms per square, and having a value less than 7,000 ohms per square.

A susceptor for heating food in a microwave oven, comprising:

• a microwave stable paper substrate, the paper substrate having a top side and a bottom side;
• a thin film of metal deposited directly on the top side of the paper substrate, the thin film of metal being operative to heat responsive to microwave radiation;
• and,
• a thin film of metal deposited directly on the bottom side of the paper substrate, said thin film of metal being operative to heat responsive to microwave radiation.