A Photolithographic Approach to Polymeric Microneedles Array Fabrication
by
Principia Dardano 1,2,*, Alessandro Caliò 1,2,3, Vincenza Di Palma 2,4, Maria Fortuna Bevilacqua 2,4, Andrea Di Matteo 2,4 and 
Luca De Stefano 1,2
Principia Dardano 1,2,*, Alessandro Caliò 1,2,3, Vincenza Di Palma 2,4, Maria Fortuna Bevilacqua 2,4, Andrea Di Matteo 2,4 and Luca De Stefano 1,2
1
Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems, National Council of Research, Via Pietro Castellino 111, Napoli 80131, Italy
2
IMAST Scarl, Piazza Bovio 22, Naples 80133, Italy
3
Department of Physics, University of Napoli “Federico II”, Via Cinthia, Napoli 80100, Italy
4
STMicroelectronics, via Remo De Feo 1, Arzano, Napoli 80022, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Juergen Stampfl
Materials 2015, 8(12), 8661-8673; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma8125484
Received: 2 October 2015 / Revised: 2 December 2015 / Accepted: 3 December 2015 / Published: 11 December 2015
(This article belongs to the Section Manufacturing Processes and Systems)
In this work, two procedures for fabrication of polymeric microneedles based on direct photolithography, without any etching or molding process, are reported. Polyethylene glycol (average molecular weight 250 Da), casted into a silicone vessel and exposed to ultraviolet light (365 nm) through a mask, cross-links when added by a commercial photocatalyzer. By changing the position of the microneedles support with respect to the vessel, different shapes and lengths can be achieved. Microneedles from a hundred microns up to two millimeters have been obtained just tuning the radiation dose, by changing the exposure time (5–15 s) and/or the power density (9–18 mW/cm2) during photolithography. Different microneedle shapes, such as cylindrical, conic or lancet-like, for specific applications such as micro-indentation or drug delivery, are demonstrated.
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Keywords:
microneedles; photolithography; polymers
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MDPI and ACS Style
Dardano, P.; Caliò, A.; Di Palma, V.; Bevilacqua, M.F.; Di Matteo, A.; De Stefano, L. A Photolithographic Approach to Polymeric Microneedles Array Fabrication. Materials 2015, 8, 8661-8673.
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