Process for fabricating glass tooling

Claim 1

A process for fabricating glass tooling with a featured surface, said process comprising the steps of: coating a polished surface of a glass blank with a continuous metal coating; applying a photoresist layer to the metal coating; exposing the photoresist layer so as to create therein a desired pattern latent image; developing the latent image, leaving certain portions of the metal coating uncovered and other portions thereof still covered by remaining portions of the photoresist layer; etching away said uncovered portions of the metal coating, leaving corresponding portions of the glass blank uncovered and other portions thereof covered by a mask including said other portions of the metal coating still covered by said remaining portions of the photoresist layer; removing said remaining portions of the photoresist layer from said other portions of the metal coating; plasma etching into said uncovered portions of the glass blank while said other portions thereof are covered by said other portions of the metal coating; and removing said other portions of the metal coating from said other portions of the glass blank; thereby leaving the glass blank etched in accordance with said desired pattern and clear of said mask, to provide said glass tooling with said featured surface for use as a durable master in a subsequent molding process.