The present invention provides for transdermal delivery devices having microneedle arrays, as well as methods for their manufacture and use. In one embodiment, a transdermal delivery device is provided. The transdermal delivery device includes a polymer layer which has microneedles projecting from one of its surfaces. The microneedles are compositionally homogenous with the polymer base layer.

A method for forming a biological microdevice includes applying a biocompatible coarse scale additive process with an additive device and a biocompatible material to form an object. The coarse scale is a dimension not less than about 100 m. The method also includes applying a biocompatible fine scale subtractive process with a subtractive device to the object. The fine scale is a dimension not greater than about 1000 m. The method also includes moving the object between the additive device and the subtractive device. A system is also provided for performing the above method and includes the additive device, the subtractive device, a means for transporting the object between the additive device and subtractive device and a processor with a memory including instructions to perform one or more of the above method steps.

A method for manufacturing a hollow needle-shaped body includes producing a needle-shaped body having a substrate and a projection on a first surface of the substrate, and applying a laser beam to a second surface of the substrate opposite to the first surface such that a through hole that penetrates through the substrate and the projection is formed. The substrate and the projection are comprised of crystallized polyglycolic acid.

This invention teaches a method to achieve rapid 3D printing of microneedle patches. The 3D printing method comprises a printing nozzle of multiple micro-holes and cold plate/platform on which the microneedle-supporting sheet (membrane) is placed. The solution or aqueous solution of microneedle-forming materials is printed onto the cold microneedle-supporting sheet with programed rate of injection from the nozzle and velocity of the nozzle lifting. The relationship between the injection rate and the lifting velocity determines the shape of the microneedle tips. The freshly printed microneedles on the cold sheet are dried in two ways, drying at a temperature close to the ice point of water or drying after a freeze-thaw treatment of the microneedles.

A nanowire probe sensor array including a substrate with a metal pattern thereon. An array of semiconductor vertical nanowire probes extends away from the substrate, and at least some of probes, and preferably all, are individually electrically addressed through the metal pattern. The metal pattern is insulated with dielectric, and base and stem portions of the nanowires are also preferably insulated. A fabrication process patterns metal connections on a substrate. A semiconductor substrate is bonded to the metal pattern. The semiconductor substrate is etched to form the neural nanowire probes that are bonded to the metal pattern. Dielectric is then deposited to insulate the metal pattern.

The present invention relates to a microstructure including a biocompatible polymer or an adhesive and to a method for manufacturing the same. The present inventors optimized the aspect ratio according to the type of each microstructure, thereby ensuring the optimal tip angle and the diameter range for skin penetration. Especially, the B-type to D-type microstructures of the present invention minimize the penetration resistance due to skin elasticity at the time of skin attachment, thereby increasing the penetration rate of the structures (60% or higher) and the absorption rate of useful ingredients into the skin. In addition, the D-type microstructure of the present invention maximizes the mechanical strength of the structure by applying a triple structure, and thus can easily penetrate the skin. When the plurality of microstructures are arranged in a hexagonal arrangement type, a uniform pressure can be transmitted to the whole microstructures on the skin.

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.