Coupledfield microfluidic analysis of integrated MEMS based device for transdermal drug delivery applications

In this paper, we present design, fabrication and coupled multifield analysis of hollow out-of-plane silicon microneedle array with piezoelectrically actuated microfluidic device for transdermal drug delivery (TDD) applications. The mask layout design and fabrication process of silicon microneedle array is first done by series of combined isotropic and anisotropic etching process using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching technology. Then coupled multifield analysis of a microelectromechnical (MEMS) based piezoelectrically actuated device with integrated 2×2 silicon microneedle array is presented. The coupled multifield analysis of piezoelectrically actuated device is a complex process as it involves structural and fluid field couplings in a complicated geometrical arrangement. Therefore, Finite Element Analysis (FEA) using ANSYS rather than analytical systems has been used to predict stress distribution and model fluid flow rate through the microneedles. In the lumen section of microneedles in 2×2 array, the predicted fluid flow rate of 2.635 ¿L/min is obtained at 120V. The numerically predicted results of pressure, velocity and flow rate provide useful information to fabricate optimized designs of integrated microfluidic devices for transdermal drug delivery applications.