Chapter 6 - Nanoimprint lithography and transdermal drug-delivery devices

Abstract

The transdermal drug delivery device is a sophisticated system for delivering drugs continuously via the skin to the systemic circulation in the human body. Advanced technologies are needed to manufacture them at low costs in high volumes. The nanoimprint lithography (NIL) system made this possible. The system consists of NIL process to imprint a pattern on a foil with nano structure similar to a human cell structure, which covers the microneedles, and then it is followed by the laser cutting of the nanostructured foil to fit onto the microneedles device. This process ensures friendly reaction of the body cells to the external compound because the imprinted structure that covers the surface of the microneedles mimics’ cell structure. This transdermal drug delivery device has an advantage over the naked microneedles. The immune system does not respond to the system, it is painless, the system showed that the efficiency improved 200 times, and the system is sufficiently flexible and deformable, which permits the device to maintain agent-transmitting relationship upon such sensitive areas as the skin. Biosensor devices are another application that can be manufactured using NIL technology in low cost, high throughput, and low-energy consumption.