Miniaturized Non-Contact Acoustic Particle Gripper Using High Transmit Piezoelectric Micromachined Transducer

Acoustic levitation enables non-contact manipulation of particles, crucial for applications in microassembly, biochemical analysis, and material processing. However, conventional acoustic levitation systems typically rely on bulky transducer arrays or complex architectures, limiting their practical implementation and portability. Here, we demonstrate a miniaturized acoustic particle gripper based on a high transmit (Tx) pressure single Sc<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0.3</sub>Al<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0.7</sub>N piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (pMUT, 3 × 3 mm²) with an acoustic enclosure specifically designed for mm size single particle trapping. As a result, the proposed system has achieved maximum 2810 Pa at the particle pick-up inlet and successfully demonstrated levitation and holding of a 1 mm foam bead while 360° frame rotation and stable transfer manipulation. The proposed miniaturized system opens up new research for acoustic levitation technology.