YYY

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

XXX
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN MICROELECTRONIC ENGINEERING

SUPERVISOR

: XXX

SCHOOL OF MICROELECTRONIC ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA PERLIS
Blok A, Kompleks Pusat Pengajian Jejawi,
Jalan Kangar-Arau,
02600 Jejawi, Perlis, MALAYSIA.

1.0

INTRODUCTION
Microneedle devices are designed with two purposes; drug delivery to the patient and

blood extraction from the patient for biosampling. Microneedles have been fabricated in metals,
silicon, silicon dioxide, polymers glass and other materials. To penetrate the stratum corneum of
the skin, a minimum length of around 100 m is necessary. Microneedles are known as painless
with a maximum size of around 150 m. They are fabricated as solid or hollow needles.
Microneedles suppose to be sharp and strong as much as necessary to pierce the epidermis layer.
At present, microneedles are mainly used for biological fluidic extraction and drug
delivery on skin. The advantage of microneedle structures is the increase of the permeability of
the skin, which increases the delivery of drugs dramatically.
An optimization must be done specifically in order to get the best design of microneedle.
There are several methods in optimization such as Genetic Algorithm, Artificial Neural Network,
Fuzzy Logic, Particle Swarm Optimization, Evolutionary Algorithm and Cuckoo Search.

2.0

OBJECTIVES
The main objective of this project is to optimize the design of two different forms of

pyramidal-shaped microneedles which are octagonal and square base for drug delivery system by
using Artificial Neural Network and Cuckoo Search approaches. Other than that, there are
several more objectives in this project which are:

i.

To satisfy the specific range of the parameters which are the height of 200m to 800m, base of
100m, lumens radius of 12.5m and tip angle of 7.16 o to 28.08o due to the thickness of human
skin and to reduce pain.

ii.

To demonstrate the fabrication process necessary to construct an array of microneedles

containing microchannels.

iii.

To optimize the microneedles with different pressures range from 1.0MPa to 20.0MPa due to the
human skin resistive force of 1.6MPa.
iv.

To understand the design of microneedle and its application in biomedical field.

3.0

LITERATURE REVIEW
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a multidisciplinary field whose purpose is to computerize

activities that currently require human intelligence. It represents humanitys long-time dream of
elevating computers beyond the realm of simple machines for the calculation and processing of
data. Intelligent behavior of humans includes the capacity for judgment, cognition, observation,
learning, comprehension, and theorizing. If computers can display these types of intelligent
behavior, they are referred to as having artificial intelligence [1].
More efficient problem solving tools such as Simulated Annealing (SA), Tabu Search
(TS), Cuckoo Search (CS), Threshold Accepting (TA), Great Deluge Algorithm (GDA), Ant
Colony Optimization (ACO), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Neural Network (NN),
Evolutionary Algorithm (EA) and Genetic Algorithms (GA) have been applied to solve the
design optimization problems. These forms of artificial intelligence have become mainstream
methods for solving optimization problems [2].
In order for a microneedle to penetrate the stratum corneum of the skin, a minimum
length of around 100 m is necessary. Microneedles are known as painless with a maximum
size of around 150 m [3][4]. In general, a microneedle must be able to penetrate into the skin
layer at least 40 m so that it can be used effectively as a drug delivery. However, a microneedle
must not penetrate far beyond the thickness of the epidermis layer. This is because the layer
below the epidermis which is the dermis layer contains blood vessels and nerve pain endings.
So, it will feel hurt if the needle penetrates to the dermis layer [5].

Currently, different shapes of microneedles have been developed in MEMS technology

using a variety of different materials. Microneedles can be divided into two main groups based
on their common design [4]. One is in-plane needles which have shafts that are parallel to the
substrate level surface. The second one is out-of-plane needle. The shafts of out-of-plane needles
are perpendicular to the substrate surface, so that multiple needles can be fabricated in twodimensional arrays [1].
There are a lot of microneedles that have been fabricated in various parameters and
dimensions. The shape, height, tip angle, base, lumens diameter, material used and number of
microneedles array are the most often parameters that designers vary since the past to improve
the functionality of microneedle as well as to prevent the failure of the microneedle.

Figure 1: Micro needles developed from single crystal silicon [5].

Artificial Neural Network and Cuckoo Search are two of many artificial intelligence
approaches that can be used in microneedle design optimization. Both methods will lead this
project in order to get the best design of microneedle.

4.0

PROBLEM STATEMENT
The main purpose of this project is to optimize the design variables for microneedle by

using one or more methods of artificial intelligence optimization. The important characteristic
that needs to be obeyed in this project is to design two different forms of pyramidal-shaped
microneedles which are octagonal and square base.

Figure 2: Octagonal micro needle design concept with smooth walled micro channels. (a) and
(c) are side views, (b) is an overhead view, (d) is an angled view from above, and (e) is an angled
view from underneath.

Figure 3: Square micro needle design concept with smooth walled lumen. (a) and (c) are side
views, (b) is an overhead view, (d) is an angled view from above, and (e) is an angled view from
underneath.
Furthermore, the design should satisfied the specific range of the parameters which are
the height of 200m to 800m, base of 100m x 100m, lumens radius of 12.5m and tip angle
of 7.16o to 28.08o. Finally, optimize the microneedles with different pressures, ranges from 1.0
MPa up to 20.0 MPa. Table 1 shows the design variables that are considered for the microneedle
optimization.
Table 1: Design variables of microneedle optimization.

SQUARE

200
400
600
800

TIP ANGLE
()
28.08
14.25
9.52
7.16

LUMENS
DIAMETER (m)
25
25
25
25

OCTAGONAL

200
400
600
800

28.08
14.25
9.52
7.16

25
25
25
25

SHAPE

HEIGHT (m)

PRESSURE
(MPa)
1.0MPa to
20.0MPa

1.0MPa to
20.0MPa

5.0

METHODOLOGY
The propose optimization method to be used in this project are Artificial Neural Network

and Cuckoo Search. Artificial Neural Networks are connectionist models that attempt to solve
computational tasks based on a network of simple computational units (i.e., neurons). Neurons
are basic computational units that when combined with appropriate weights between neurons
have been shown to solve a variety of problems ranging from classification and pattern
recognition to function approximation.
Neural network architectures can be feed forward or recurrent [6]. Cuckoo Search is a
heuristic search algorithm inspired by the cuckoo bird breeding behavior [7][8]. The cuckoo
breeding analogy is used for developing new design optimization algorithm. The quality of
solutions is improved by generating a new solution from an existing solution by modifying
certain characteristics [9].
For the design of microneedle, the propose software to be used is ANSYS, while the
coding for the optimizer will be done in Matlab software. ANSYS is a finite element analysis
(FEA) code generally used in the computer-aided engineering (CAE) field. ANSYS software
allows engineers to construct computer models of structures, machine components or systems,
apply operating loads and other design criteria and study physical responses, such as stress
levels, temperature distributions and pressure [10].
MATLAB is a high-level technical computing language and interactive environment for
algorithm development, data visualization, data analysis, and numerical computation. By using
MATLAB, one can solve technical computing problems faster than with traditional programming
languages, such as C, C++, and Fortran [11]. Both softwares will be combined in order to get the
best solution for the microneedle design variables.

Figure 4: Process flow chart.

6.0

GANTT CHART

Figure 5: Gantt Chart for the research planning

7.0

CONCLUSION
Micro fabricated needles have the potential for inexpensive drug delivery without pain.

The results of this research will benefit the medical community, administrators as well as
patients, in the ongoing pursuit of improving medical treatments and assuaging the pain typical
of hypodermic injections.
A microneedle must be designed with the ability to puncture the skin easily. This includes
having a relatively sharp tip and a needle with a fairly high aspect ratio as well as a lumen
positioned correctly so that it doesn't plug up during skin penetration. This includes having a
relatively sharp tip and a needle with a fairly high aspect ratio as well as a lumen positioned
correctly so that it doesn't plug up during skin penetration. The shape of a micro needle must not
be determined by fabrication techniques alone but also by considerations of interaction with the
skin.

8.0
[1]

REFERENCES

Hsien-tang Wu, W.-t. H.-t.-m. (July 2011). Application of Genetic Algorithm to the Development
of Artificial Intelligence Module System.

[2]

Glover, F. and Kochenberger, G. A. Handbook of Metaheuristics. Kluwer Academic

Publishers, Massachusetts, 2003.

[3]

J.C. Morrison, C.G. Moore, Microneedle for injection of ocular blood vessels, Patent US 5,
364,374.

[4]

J. Toon, Taking the ouch out of needles arrays of micron scale microneedles offer new
technique for drug delivery, Georgia Tech News, June, 1998.

[5]

Michael S. Diehl, Design and Fabrication of out of plane Silicon Micro needles with integrated
Hydrophobic Micro channels, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Brigham Young
University, Dec 2007

[6]

Karthik Ganesan Pillai, J. W. (2011). Overlapping Swarm Intelligence for Training Artificial
Neural Networks.

[7]

X. S. Yang and S. Deb, "Engineering optimization by cuckoo search", Int. J. of Mathematical

Modeling and Numerical Optimisation, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 330-343, 2010.

[8]

X. S. Yang and S. Deb, "Cuckoo search via Lvy flights," in World Congress on Nature &
Biologically Inspired Computing, Coimbatore, India, pp. 210214, 2009.

[9]

Anil Kumar, S. C. (2011). Design optimization using Genetic Algorithm and Cuckoo Search.

[10]

ANSYS

Software.

(n.d.).

Retrieved

October

5,

2011,

from

JLR.com:

http://www.jlrcom.com/ansys-software.htm
[11]

Matlab - Product Description. (n.d.). Retrieved October 5, 2011, from MathWorks:

http://www.mathworks.com/products/matlab/description1.html