Investigation of MEMS-Based Acoustic Levitation for Pick-and-Place Machines

Abstract: The standard technology used in a pick and place machine for lifting and transportingsurface mount electronic components is a vacuum based solution.  This thesis investigates a new acoustic based technology for manipulating surface mountelectronic components.  Using a microelectromechanical systems-based transducers array to create a standing wave, small objects and components were levitated and studied.  It was examined how the distance would affect the levitation ability of different objects with varying density as well as how the stability was affected. It was concluded that the distance variation of approximately 10 mm had no significant affecton the levitation ability. The longer distance did result in a less stable behavior of the levitated object.