Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer Enables Bubble-Based Stirring and Reconfigurable Particle Patterning

This paper presents a novel on-chip acoustofluidic manipulation technique that uses a piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (PMUT) to fuse two functions: bubble-based stirring and reconfigurable particle patterning. The unique merits of this platform include (1) highly localized acoustic actuation without using a power amplifier; (2) ultra-low sample volumes for rapid bioanalysis; (3) potential for high throughput by device integration; (4) CMOS compatibility for sensing; (5) ease of switching between functions by adjusting the frequency for multiple modes of patterning.