Implantable MEMS

Outline

Sensors for biomedical applications (Bio-sensors)

Application of pressure sensors

Stents
Immuno-isolation devices
Drug delivery systems

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Introduction

Micromachined pressure sensors are one of the most

commercially successful MEMS applications

Possibly oldest MEMS application: more then 30 years ago

Piezoresistive phenomenon reported in 1961,

mass production of pressure sensors since 1974

Applications: automotive, aerospace, biomedical, industrial

Types: piezoresistive, capacitive, piezoceramics

Market of 1bn in 2001, will continue increase

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Why MEMS pressure sensors

Small size, mass production, integrated electronics

(transducer/transmitter)
Silicon- excellent mechanical proprieties that
recommend it for mechanical sensors:
Linear elastic (plastic modification only after heating at
600OC)
Low hysteresis
Chemically inert
Strong piezoelectric effect

Device fabrication and packaging using similar

microelectronics technology (standard process)
Low cost (chip ~ 0.1-0.3 USD, sensor ~ 2-5 USD)
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Types of pressure sensors

Piezoresistive pressure sensor

Capacitive pressure sensors
Optical pressure sensors
Piezoceramic
AFTER REFERENCE PRESSURE:

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Basic concept- piezoresistive

pressure sensor

A thin diaphragm generated in the bulk silicon

Embedded piezoresistors on diaphragm to
measure strain
Bridge circuit + amplifying and tuning
electronics for signal processing/conditioning
Packaged according to application
requirements

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Piezoresistive transduction

Applied stress/strain affects resistance in piezoresistive

materials
Discovered in Si in 1954 (Bell labs)
Physics: majority carrier mobility affected by stress:
In p-type Si, hole mobility decreases: R increases
In n-type Si, electron mobility increases: R decreases

Advantages:
Simple fabrication
Simple interface circuits: measure change in R using a simple
Wheatstone bridge topology

Disadvantages:
Temperature sensitive
High thermal noise
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Piezoresistive transduction

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Piezoresistivity in single crystal Si

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Piezoresistive Sensor Interfacing

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Piezoresistive Sensor Interfacing

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Piezoresistive Sensor Interfacing

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Layout of pressure sensors

Optical image of pressure sensor

Pressure sensors layout

pressure sensor wafer

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Anistropically etched cavity

<100> plane

<111> planes

Masked region- <100> plane

SEM picture with pressure sensors diaphragms

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Generic process flow for pressure sensor

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Generic process flow for pressure sensor

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Application:Catheter pressure sensor

Henry Allen, Kamrul Ramzan, Jim Knutti, and Stan Withers

A Novel Ultra-miniature catheter tip pressure sensor
fabricated using silicon and glass thinning techniques
MRS Conference, San Francisco, CA 2001

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Catheter pressure sensor

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Catheter pressure sensor

Top-side Sensor process

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Bonding and thinning

sequence

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Capacitive pressure sensors

High temperature operation (>125 degrees C)

Low power consumption
High overpressure capability and high resistance to pressure shocks
Low temperature coefficient
Ease of packaging

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Implantable microsystem for blood pressure

measurements

Ziaie and Najafi

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Implantable microsystem for blood pressure

measurements

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Implantable microsystem
for blood pressure measurements

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Implantable microsystem for blood

pressure measurements

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Catheter pressure sensor (2)

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Fiber-optic pressure sensors

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Stents

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Stents

Stents are one method by which the size of arteries can be

increased in patient with heart disease
Stents are also use to repair aneurism
Are mainly fabricated from stainless steel
To improve the bio-compatibility: covering with TiN(sputtering)
New trends: drug-eluting stents

Coating the stents with the pure drug

Drug + polymer solution applied on the stents surface
Wrapping the stent with a polymer sheath in which drug is embeded
Coating the stent with a photo-polymerizable gel in which drug is
immobilized
Fabrication of drug-containing reservoir into the struts of the stent
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Stents coated with photogel for drug delivery

Y. Nakayama, et al
Development of highperformance stent:
Gelatinous photogelcoated stent that
permits drug delivery
and gene transfer
Journal of Biomedical
Materials Research
Vol. 57, Issue 4, 2001,

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Stents with Drug Containing Reservoir

Material:
-

Cobalt chromium
Stainless steel

- The drug and polymer are protected in

hundreds of deep, non-deforming reservoirs.
-The reservoirs provide up to 6 times the drug
dose capacity compared to surface-coated
stents.
- There is far less polymer contact with the
vessel wall than with a surface-coated stent,
so the inflammatory tendencies of drug
delivery stenting is reduced.

Stents fabricated by
Conor Medisystem
www.conormed.com

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Immunoisolation devices

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Immunoisolation devices

State of the art: semi-permeable polymer based capsule (e.g. to isolate

implanted islet cells from surrounding biological environment)
Polymer based capsules (disadvantages):
Inadequate mechanical strength
Broad pore size distribution

These factors can cause mechanical failure of the capsule and

immunorejection due to the diffusion of antibodies
Solution: microfabricated silicon capsules (nano-porous silicon
membrane)
Advantages:
Reproducibility of small features
Greater mechanical strength

Requirements:
Stability
Non-biodegradability
Biocompatibility
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Immunoisolation devices

Tejal A. Desai et al
Microfabricated Biocapsules Provide Short-Term
Immunoisolation of Insulinoma Xenografts
Volume 1, Issue 2, Jan 1999 , Pages: 131-138,
Biomedical Microdevices

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Immunoisolation devices- Fabrication Process

The main steps of the fabrication process:

a) Trench fabrication (deep RIE)
b) SiO2 deposition (PECVD, LTO)
c) Patterning of oxide, PolySi deposition,
patterning PolySi
d) Wet etching of SiO2 (exposed area)
e) Bonding (silicon elastomer)

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Immunoisolation devices- Fabrication Process 2

Fabrications steps: a) polySi deposited on Si3N4 layer b)

etching holes in PolySi layer c) SiO2 growing d)
patterning of anchor points and depositio of polySI
plug layer e) planarization, f) deposition of protective
SI3N4 layer g) membrane etching, removing Si3N4 and
etching SiO2 in HF
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SEM of fabricated membranes

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Drug delivery

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Drug Delivery Systems

Advantages of implantable systems:

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Silicon Microreservoir Devices

for Drug Delivery

Santinni et al, MicroChips

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Fabrication process

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Device Filling Process

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Theory of Operation

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Drug Released Mechanism

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Bio-adhesive Microdevices for Drug Delivery

A. Ahmed et al Bioadhesive
Microdevices for Drug delivery
Biomed Microdev. 2001

Fabrication process
a)SiO2 (thermal oxide)
b) PolySi- LPCVD
c)) LTO- PCVD
d) photolithography
e) RIE
f) photolithography
g)KOH etching

Drug attach to the SiO2 chip!

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Polymer Microreservoir Devices

Discontinuous dewetting can
fill large arrays of microwells.
(A)Schematic illustration of an
array of microreactors filling
with liquid.
(B) Optical micrograph of
wells (10 m diameter; 2.2 m
deep) in a PDMS surface
filling with tri(ethylene glycol).
(C) Optical fluorescence
micrograph of a microtomed
section through wells filled
with epoxy (Epo-tek UVO114)
containing Rhodamine B.
(D) Empty wells (right) and
wells filled with a solution of
brilliant green in tri(ethylene
glycol) (left) by discontinuous
dewetting.

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Smart Drug Delivery (Smart pills!)

Marc Mandou
http://mmadou.eng.uci.edu/

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Smart Drug Delivery (Smart pills!)

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