Patent ID: 7303663

Claim:
An electrochemical fabrication process for producing a three-dimensional structure from a plurality of adhered layers, the process comprising: (A) forming a layer by depositing at least one sacrificial material and at least one structural material onto a substrate or previously formed layer, wherein the depositing of at least one of the materials comprises an electrodeposition operation; (B) repeating (A) one or more times such that a plurality of layers are formed and such that successive layers are formed adjacent to and adhered to previously formed layers, wherein the three-dimensional structure is formed from at least a portion of the at least one structural material that was deposited in (A) and (B); (C) performing a first etching operation to remove at least a first portion of at least a first material from multiple layers of the plurality of layers, wherein the first material is at least one of the at least one sacrificial material; (D) performing a second etching operation, after the first etching operation, to remove at least a portion of at least a second material, which is different from the first material, from multiple layers of the plurality of layers and wherein the second material is selected from a group consisting of the at least one sacrificial material and the at least one structural material; and (E) performing a third etching operation that removes an additional quantity of the first material that was protected from removal by the second material prior to removal of the second material, wherein the three-dimensional structure is released from the at least one sacrificial material.