Patent ID: 7045089

Claim:
A method for making a mold component for a mold which is useful in injection molding of small structures, comprising the steps of: forming a solid epoxy member on a substrate, the epoxy member having an upper surface which conforms to a desired configuration associated with a portion of a component to be formed by injection molding, the epoxy member further having a selected peripheral boundary and a selected thickness; depositing at least one first layer of metal on said epoxy member, said first metal layer extending to a first metal layer boundary on said substrate, the first metal boundary extending beyond the peripheral boundary of the epoxy member; wherein an upper surface of said first layer of metal conforms to said desired configuration; depositing a layer of epoxy on first said first metal layer, the epoxy layer having a peripheral boundary greater than the peripheral boundary of said epoxy member and a height which extends above the first metal layer; removing resin from said layer of epoxy to create a remaining well region having an inner peripheral boundary which is greater than the peripheral boundary of the epoxy member, but less than the first metal boundary, wherein the remaining well region is then processed such that it is fully cross-linked; depositing a metal impression layer within the remaining well region, covering the first metal layer, therein; and separating the metal impression layer from the remaining well region and affixing it to a mounting member as a mold component.