Sharp beveled tip hollow microneedle arrays fabricated by LIGA and 3D soft lithography with polyvinyl alcohol

F. Pérennès*, B. Marmiroli, M. Matteucci, M. Tormen, L. Vaccari, E. Di Fabrizio

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

150 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper describes a fabrication process of hollow microneedle arrays with a sharp beveled tip for transdermal drug delivery. A master is fabricated through a double deep x-ray lithography process. First, a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) sheet is exposed to produce single PMMA parts with a sawtooth profile. The tip angle of each tooth determines the final tip angle of the microneedles. The PMMA parts are assembled and glued on a conductive substrate and then exposed through a second x-ray mask containing an array of hollow triangles as absorbing structures. A metal layer is then electrodeposited around the needles in order to form the future base of the array. A polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution is cast on top of the master to form a negative mold of the microneedle array after a low temperature curing and peel-off steps. A liquid PMMA solution is cast on top of the PVA negative mold and after the full PMMA polymerization the PVA is dissolved in water. This fabrication method can be performed in a non-clean room environment and requires little instrumentation. It is therefore compatible with a low-cost mass-fabrication scheme.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)473-479
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Micromechanics and Microengineering
Volume16
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1 2006
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Mechanics of Materials
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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