3E70.

A NOVEL MICRONEEDLE ARRAY INTEGRATED WITH A PDMS BIOCHIP

FOR MICROFLUID SYSTEMS

Seung-Joon Paik', Jung-Min Lim', Ilwoo Jung', Yonghwa Park', Sangwon Byun',
Seok Chung'*, Kukjin Chun', Junkeun Chang' and Dongil "Dan" Cho'+ I*,

*Schoolof Electrical and Information Engineering, ERC-NBS, ISRC, ASRI,

Seoul National University, San 56-1, Shinlim-dong, Kwanak-gu, Seoul 151-742, Korea
**DigitalBio Technology Co., Ltd., Korea
+Phone:+82.2.880.8371, eFax: +1.413.254.7735, eMail: dicho@snu.ac.kr

research goups used an electroplating process, surface

Abstract .
This paper reports a novel single-crystal-silicon
microneedle array, its mechanical properties, its integration
with a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) hiochip. as well as in
vitro and in vivo test results. The fabricated microneedle
arrays have integrated microchannels, which are fabricated
by using the processes of anisotropic dry etching, isotropic
dry etching, and trench-refilling. The microchannel
diameter is about 20 pm. The 2 mm-length microneedle
shaft is strong enough to endure 12.6 gf (=I235 mN) of
vertical loading. The fabricated microneedles are planar,
which make it easy to integrate with biofluidic devices. As
an in vitro test, the microneedle array is integrated with a
PDMS hiochip, and black ink is injected into a methanol-
filled petri dish. The microneedle is tested in vivo by
penetrating the mouse skin and precisely pricking into the
small vein in the mouse tail.
Keywords: BioMEMS, diagnosis system, microchannel,
microneedle
Introduction
Recently, many research groups have developed
microneedles by using various micromachining processes
[l-71. Microneedles are useful tools for introducing biofluid
into a microfluid systems such as blood type, tests, blood
diagnostics, and diabetes tests for medical examinations and
monitoring. The general characteristics of the referenced
microneedles include a small volume, small pain during
penetration, buried microchannel, or good mechanical
strength. In order to fabricate hollow microneedles, other
micromachining, or SO1 wafer process. However, out-of-
plane microneedles [2, 6, 71 have limitations in terms of a
penetration depth, microchannel shapes, and connection
with other microfluid systems. Other in-plane microneedles
[l, 3-51 have limitations in terms of wafer bonding,
mechanical strength, and cost. The microneedle array in this
paper is the first single-crystal-silicon microneedle
fabricated in the plane of the substrate, so that the
microneedles can be integrated easily with biochip systems
by bonding.
Design and Fabrication
We have reported the fabrication method for a hollow
single-crystal-silicon microneedle by using the processes of
anisotropic dry etching, isotropic dry etching, trench-
refilling, and release dry etching [X, 91. In order to integrate
the microneedles with PDMS biochips, microneedle designs
and fabrication processes are modified. The buried
microchannel was fabricated on a (100) silicon wafer as
before [X, 91, and silicon oxide films were deposited and
patterned on both sides of the wafer. Then, deep silicon
etching was used to define the reservoir depth and the
microneedle shaft thickness on the front side, and to release
the microneedles on the backside. The fabricated
microneedle shafts have the thickness of 100 pm, and the
handling body has that of 550 pm which is the same
thickness as with the wafer. The SEM pictures of one of the
fabricated microneedle arrays are shown in figure 1. The
microneedle shafts are 2 mm long, 100 pm thick, 100 pm
wide, and 30' end-angled. Microchannels from the reservoir
tn the end of shafts has about 20 pm diameter. The
dimensions of the handling bodies are 7.5 mm long, 4 mm

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fracture force of the microneedle shaft was empirically

measured by using a load cell (SETech instrument Co.,
YA21S-lSOG), which is described in the following section.
In order to inject drugs or to absorb humors, the
microneedle array was integrated with a PDMS biochip.
The PDMS biochip contains microchannels and connection
holds, which was fabricated by the micromolding method
and by bonding with a slide glass. Figure 3 shows the
integrated microneedle. The reservoir of the microneedle
array and the connection hole of the PDMS biochip were
connected directly by bonding after the surface treatment of
an oxygen plasma, and a silicone tube was connected to the
other connection hole of the PDMS hiochip.

Figure 2. FEM Simulation analysis for the Stress O f

microneedle shaft. The vertical loading of 130 mN induces
maximum stress of about 1 GPa.

(c) Microchannel entrance at the reservoir of region 'B'

Figure 1. SEM pictures of a fabricated microneedle.

wide, and 550 pm thick, and the dimensions of the

reservoirs are 1.5 mm x 1.5 mm and 1 mm x 1 mm.
The microneedle shaft dimensions are determined,
considering mechanical stability. The main factor fracturing
the microneedle shaft is a vertical bending load out of the Figure 3. Integrated microneedle array by bonding of a
plane. The FEM simulation (ANSYS') result in figwe 2 microneedle and a PDMS biochip.
shows that the vertical bending load of 130 mN induces a
maximum stress of approximately 1 GPa, which is near the
fracture stress limit of silicon cantilevers [lo]. The bending

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3E70.P
Experimental Results and Discussions
In order to investigate the mechanical stability of the
microneedle array, a vertical bending fracture test of the
microneedle shaft was performed. The bending fracture
force of the microneedle shaft was empirically measured by
using a load cell (SETech instrument Co., YA21S-150G).
The applied force to the microneedle shaft was displayed on
the digital indicator (SETech instrument Co., YD-2OR) of
the load cell, and the data was stored in a personal computer
by using the RS-232 connection. By means of manually
pushing the microneedle toward the load cell, the maximum
force before the fracture of the microneedle shaft was
measured. The experimental set up is shown in figure 4.
The microneedle shaft was broken at 12.6 gf (=123.5 mN)
as shown in figure 5 , which is consistent with the FEM
simulation results of 130 mN.
Figure 4. Experimental set up of the bending test
Average maximum force applied before
the microneedies failed
12
0 2 4 6 8 10 (2 14
Time [J
Figure 5 . Applied force on the microneedle shaft. The
sudden drop in the force at 12.6 gf means that the
microneedle shaft is broken.
The 12th International Conference an Solid State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystem$,Boston. June 8-12, 2003
The integrated microneedle array was investigated by
means of flowing fluids through the microchannels in the
microneedle and the PDMS biochip. To simulate the
injection of drugs or the absorption of humors, the
integrated microneedle was immersed in the methanol-filled
petri dish, and black ink in a 1 ml syringe was injected
through a connection tube, a PDMS biochip, and
microchannels in the microneedle. Figure 6 shows the
experimental setup and the injected ink. The black ink was
injected from each end of five microneedle shanks.
Figure 7 shows an animal penetration experiment with
a laboratory mouse. The mouse was caged, and the tail of
the mouse was pricked with the microneedle. The
microneedles are sufficiently stiff to penetrate the animal
skin, and the cross section of the microneedle shaft is small
enough to prick a small vein in the tail.
Figure 6 . The integrated microneedle was immersed in
methanol, and black ink in a 1 ml syringe was injected
through a connection tube, a PDMS biochip, and
microchannels in the microneedle.
16
Figure 7. The integrated microneedle pricks a tail of a
mouse.
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161 P. Griss and G Stemme, "Novel, Side Opened Out-of-

Conclusions
Single-crystal-silicon microneedles were developed using a
(100) silicon wafer, and the strength of the microneedle
shaft was mechanically characterized. Then, the
microneedle arrays were integrated with PDMS biochips. It
was verified empirically that the integrated microneedle
flows colloidal fluid through itself, and that the
microneedles are sufficiently stiff to penetrate animal skins
and that the cross section is sufficiently small to prick a
small vein precisely.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the lntelligent Microsystem
Center, which is funded by the 21st Cenhuy Frontier R&D
Program of the Korea Ministry of Science and Technology
(http://www.microsystem.re.kr). The first, third, and fourth
authors were also supported in part by the BK 21 Project in
2002 and 2003.
plane Microneedles for Microfluidic TransdennaI
Interfacing," International Conference on
Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS '02), pp. 467-
470,2002.
[7] J. G E. Gardeniers, J. W. Berenschot, M. J. de Boer, Y.
Yeshurun, M. Hefetz, R. van't Oever, and A. van den Berg,
"Silicon Micromachined Hollow Microneedles for
Transdermal Liquid Transfer," International Conference
on Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS '02), pp.
141-144,2002.
[8] S. Pa&, J. Kim, S. Park, S. Kim, K. Chun, J. Chang, and
D. Cho, "Silicon-micromachined Microneedle for the
Blood Test System," Intemational Sensor Conference, pp.
97-98,2001.
[9] S. Paik, J. Kim, S. Park, S. Kim, K. Chun, J. Chang, and
D. Cho, Proc. "Integrated Silicon Microneedles for
Biofluid Diagnosis System," Pac. Rim Workshop on
Transducers and MicroNan0 Technologies, pp. 725-728,
2002.
[lo] C. J. Wilson and P. A. Beck, "Fracture Testing of Bulk
Silicon Microcantilever Beams Subjected to a Side Load,"
Journal of Microelectroniechanical Systems, 5, pp. 142-150,
1996.

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