Development of pressure-driven micro active catheter using membrane micro emboss following excimer laser ablation (MeME-X) process

The world´s smallest micro active catheter of φ∼300µm was successfully fabricated using membrane micro emboss following excimer laser ablation (MeME-X) process. The catheter has a one-sided hollow bellows at the tip made of thin polymer membrane. The bellows is composed of a series of folded micro-chambers and microchannels connecting the micro-chambers. The folded-chambers expand on one side by increasing inner water pressure using a syringe, thus the whole bellows bends toward one direction within 0 to 180 degree. This micro active catheter should be useful for safe intravascular surgery in narrow and complicated blood vessels. Moreover, the nonelectrical actuation mechanism of this catheter can be widely applied to micro-actuators and micro-robots which need high safety.