A method is for manufacturing a plurality of silicon microneedles which have a bevelled tip. The method includes providing a silicon substrate having a front face and a rear face, forming a first mask arrangement on the front face of the substrate, the first mask arrangement defining one or more gaps, and performing a SF.sub.6 based plasma etch of the front face through the gaps in the first mask arrangement to provide one or more etch features having a sloping face. The SF.sub.6 based plasma etch undercuts the first mask arrangement with an undercut that is at least 10% of the depth of a corresponding etch feature. The method further includes forming a second mask arrangement on the etch features to define locations of the microneedles, in which the second mask arrangement is located entirely on sloping faces of the etch features, and performing a DRIE (deep reactive ion etch) anisotropic plasma etch of the etched front face of the substrate to form a plurality of microneedles which have a bevelled tip, where the sloping faces of the etch features at least in part give rise to the bevelled tips of the microneedles.

Nanoneedles and nanoneedle arrays and methods of making nanoneedles are provided. The methods can include multilayer fabrication methods using a negative photoresist and/or a positive photoresist. The nanoneedle arrays include one or more nanoneedles attached to a surface of a substrate. The nanoneedle can have both a proximal opening and a distal opening, and an inner passageway connecting the proximal opening and the distal opening. The nanoneedle can have a functional coating. The nanoneedle can include iron, cobalt, nickel, gold, and oxides and alloys thereof. The nanoneedle arrays can be used for the administration and/or the extraction of agents from individual cells. In one or more aspects, the nanoneedles can be magnetic nanoneedles. An oscillating magnetic field applied to a magnetic nanoneedle can induce one or both of heating and vibration of the magnetic nanoneedle. The heating and/or vibration can cause a magnetic nanoneedle to penetrate the wall of a cell.

A method of manufacturing a plurality of neural probes from a silicon wafer in which after neural probes are formed on one side of a silicon wafer, the other side of the silicon wafter is subject to a dicing process that separates and adjusts the thickness of the neural probes.

A method for producing a micro-pattern on surface of a wire is disclosed. The method includes a step of applying a nanoparticle solution to the wire to form a nanoparticle solution layer on the surface of the wire; and a step of irradiating the nanoparticle solution layer with a Bessel beam laser to induce sintering of nanoparticles, thereby forming a micro-pattern on the surface of the wire. It is possible to form a microelectrode pattern on a level of several to tens of micrometers on the surface of a micro-wire having a diameter on a scale of several tens to several hundreds of micrometers. Since a laser optical system with a long depth of focus is used, a micro-pattern with a uniform thickness can be formed on surface of a wire having a curvature in a simple.

In an implantable hybrid lead and a method of manufacturing the implantable hybrid lead, the implantable hybrid lead includes a conduit, a line electrode and a plurality of electrode terminals. The conduit has a fine channel through which a medicine is injected. The line electrode is inserted to and is combined with an outside of the conduit, and applies electrical simulation to a selected portion of a living body. A plurality of electrode terminals is disposed at an end of the conduit by a predetermined distance.

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a microstructure, including: (a) forming a solid on a substrate; (b) fluidizing the solid by adding a solvent thereto; and (c) shaping the fluidized solid, and a microstructure manufactured using the method.

The present invention relates to a method for producing a super-hydrophobic surface, and to a stack having a super-hydrophobic surface prepared by the above method. The super-hydrophobic surface may be realized only by plasma etching and deposition. The super-hydrophobic surface according to the present invention has a very low work of adhesion less than or equal to 3 mJ/m.sup.2. This super-hydrophobic surface may be applied to various fields including self-cleaning surface, anti-fogging surface, automobile glass surface, and drug delivery device surface.

A micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) probe module structure is provided, including: a ceramic carrier and a plurality of probes fixed on the ceramic carrier; the ceramic carrier has a top surface, a side surface, and a bottom surface, and a window in the center; the ceramic carrier is provided with a plurality of lead wires, each lead wires are distributed on the top surface, the side surface and the bottom surface and connected together; the bottom surface is provided with a plurality of bonding areas, and each lead wire is connected to a corresponding bonding area; each of the probes includes a needle tip and the needle arm, the needle tup is arranged at one end of the needle arm, and the needle arm is welded to the bonding area, so that the needle arm extends below the window like a cantilever and the needle tip faces downward.

A nanowire electrode array has a plurality of vertical nanowires extending from a substrate, each of the nanowires including a core of unitary first dielectric material that also covers the substrate and is unitary with the substrate. Each core has a sharp sub-100 nm diameter tip and a wider base, electrode leads on sidewalls to the tip of the nanowire, and second dielectric covering the electrode leads. The tips in the array can penetrate individual cells in cell culture, such as a mini-brain culture. The substrate can include a window for simultaneous optical imaging and electrophysiological recording.

A microelectromechanical probe is manufactured by a MEMS manufacturing process forming a probe body and a cutting process providing a pinpoint portion a cutting face. The probe has a top surface, a body portion, and a pinpoint portion extended in a probing direction from the body portion and provided with first and second sides and a probing end oriented in the probing direction. The cutting face is provided on the top surface, adjoins the first and second sides and the probing end, and has at least one cut mark formed by the cutting process, extended from the first side to the second side and non-parallel to the probing direction. The cutting face descends from an edge cut mark to the probing end.