Ultra-thin metal etching covers foil and sheet from 0.01 mm to 2 mm, where conventional stamping and laser cutting start to struggle. At this gauge, a die can crush or distort the material, and heat can warp it, while chemical etching removes metal without force or stress. The result is a flat part with clean edges, held to a drawing rather than to a tool.

The process starts with cleaning, laminating photoresist, exposure through artwork, development and chemical etching, followed by stripping and inspection. Because the pattern comes from a film, a design change costs new artwork rather than a new die, and both sides can be etched in one pass. That also means every feature is defined by the same film, so registration stays consistent. Stainless steel, copper, aluminum, nickel alloys and other thin metals are all handled this way, including material thin enough to need a carrier. Foil price, chemistry time and yield set the cost.

Precision at this gauge is a balance between thickness tolerance, etch factor and handling. Etching removes material sideways as well as downwards, so feature size and edge profile depend on the etch factor for that material and thickness. Thin foil also flexes, so flatness and handling marks matter as much as dimensional accuracy, and parts are often etched and shipped on a frame or carrier to protect them. Cost tracks the same variables: foil price, artwork, handling and yield, not etched area.

We etch custom ultra-thin parts from prototype to series volume, including filter meshes, screens, encoder discs, fuel cell plates, shims and flexible contacts, with the same artwork carried from sample to production. Every batch is checked for dimensions, thickness, burr-free edges, flatness and visual defects, and parts are packed to survive transit without bending.

Specifying ultra-thin etching starts with the thickness window, not the nominal number. A foil quoted as 0.05 mm may arrive with a tolerance that changes how the part behaves, and handling and packing can cost more than the etching itself. Ask for a test coupon at the real thickness and a report that states the etch factor.