In this image we can see microscopic pyramid-shaped needles produced by a 3D-printer at MIT.nano capable of creating discrete objects in the order of several hundred nanometers to tens of microns with extremely high precision. The needles are printed on a Silicon chip, a highly reflective glass-like material that increases the adhesion between the needles and the surface on which they are printed on.

We took this image to inspect the relative sharpness and adhesion of the needles after various printing parameters, including scan rate and print mode, were adjusted. Our goal was to find a combination of parameters which yielded extremely sharp needles while maintaining a feasible print time to enable rapid prototyping and larger arrays of microneedles.