[Development of a Futuristic Microneedle Based on Nanotechnology]

The author proposes "the microtube production technique", which is based on "nanotechnology", to produce a microneedle which mimicks a female mosquito's labium to collect blood almost painlessly. The microneedle production technique is to deposit the microneedle material on a rotating wire substrate at a speed of 3-5 rpm by a sputtering deposition method and etch the wire substrate by a chemical solution after a heat treatment As the result, a titanium microneedle was produced (outer and inner diameter: 50 μm and 25 μm) in the same size of female mosquito's labium. In this paper, microtube production technique is introduced first as a key technology. The design technique of painless microneedle for blood extraction system based on quantitative pain assessment, are also proposed to produce solid type microneedle with trenches on the surface of the needle.