Hollow polymer microneedle array fabricated by photolithography process combined with micromolding technique

Transdermal drug delivery through microneedles is a minimally invasive procedure causing little or no pain, and is a potentially attractive alternative to intramuscular and subdermal drug delivery methods. This paper demonstrates the fabrication of a hollow microneedle array using a polymer-based process combining UV photolithography and replica molding techniques. The key characteristic of the proposed fabrication process is to define a hollow lumen for microfluidic access via photopatterning, allowing a batch process as well as high throughput. A hollow SU-8 microneedle array, consisting of 825 mum tall and 400 mum wide microneedles with 15-25 mum tip diameters and 120 mum diameter hollow lumens was designed, fabricated and characterized.