A new manipulator based on surface acoustic wave streaming

This paper reports a new micromanipulator based on surface acoustic wave (SAW) streaming. When a small solid object is placed with a water droplet on SAW substrate and SAW is excited, the object can move easily and smoothly with the droplet in the SAW propagation direction. Small steel balls from 0.5 to 4.0 mm diameters were examined as manipulating samples on a SAW substrate. The experimental results are compared with conventional SAW motor method based on friction drive, with which the object is moved toward operating interdigital transducer (IDT)-which is opposite to SAW propagation direction. As a result, the driving force of the present method was found to be sixty times as large as that of the conventional SAW motor method. Moreover, teflon sheet, being difficult for the conventional SAW motor method, can be moved with ease for the present method. We conclude that the present method must have high potential to be use in practice as a micromanipulator.