High frequency silicon-based ultrasonic nozzles

This paper reports on the design and simulation of 1.45/spl plusmn/0.05 MHz Si-based ultrasonic nozzles that consist of multiple sections of Fourier horn. To the best of our knowledge, no ultrasonic nozzles at such high frequencies have been reported heretofore. Such high frequency nozzles should produce 5 /spl mu/m-diameter drops that are useful for alveolar delivery of medicine and nanoparticles synthesis in spray pyrolysis. Results of 3-D simulation using a commercial FEM program, ANSYS, show gains as much as 55 in longitudinal vibration amplitude at the nozzle tip. Therefore, the required electric drive power should be drastically reduced and the transducer failure in ultrasonic atomization can be more easily avoided.