Formation of microstructures using a preformed photoresist sheet

A photoresist laminate having micromechanical structures comprising:

• two or more preformed sheets of photoresist material adhered together to form a laminate, each photoresist sheet being about 1 mm in thickness or less and each photoresist sheet having at least one surface thereof mechanically milled, and further wherein at least one surface of each photoresist sheet has a pattern of voids therein which extend entirely through each sheet.

A micromechanical structure comprising:

• a free body of PMMA having a top surface and a bottom surface, at least one of the top and bottom surfaces being mechanically milled, the thickness of the body between the top and bottom surfaces being less than about 1 mm, the body formed of preformed PMMA with substantially no internal strain therein, and sidewalls for the body which are substantially perpendicular to the top and bottom surfaces of the body.

A method of forming a laminated structure comprising the steps of:

• spinning a thin layer of low molecular weight PMMA onto a substrate and curing the layer;
• wetting the layer of low molecular weight PMMA with MMA monomer;
• applying a preformed sheet of PMMA to the wetted layer to adhere the preformed sheet to the wetted layer and thus to the substrate.