the present invention no vent holes or slots are provided in the mold and instead air can be evacuated from the mold prior to injection in certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention temperature variation and its effect on the micro structure can be addressed via enhanced heating and cooling controls in or around the mold in certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention heat can be eliminated from the curing process by replacing the molding materials with photo curing materials some of the methods that can be used for micro molding and casting include micro injection molding powder injection molding metal injection molding photo molding hot embossing micro transfer molding jet molding pressure casting vacuum casting and or spin casting etc any of these methods can make use of a laminated or derived mold produced using this method a controlled backing thickness can be incorporated into the casting to create an intermediate structure one purpose of the intermediate can be to create a rigid substrate or backing that allows the casting to be grasped for removal from the mold without distorting the casting the thickness of the backing can be inversely related to the geometry of the pattern or features being cast for example fine grid patterns can require a thicker backing while coarse patterns can have a thinner backing the backing can.