Structural optimization for one dimensional acoustic levitation devices - Numerical and experimental study

Nowadays, the microelectronics industry handles and transports silicon wafers in clean rooms using conveyers, chucks and robotic arms that physically hold the wafers. The physical contact between the wafers and the abovementioned mechanisms create particles which contaminate the wafers and the work environment. The need to reduce these contaminations can be addressed by employing acoustic levitation, in which the wafers are carried by air pressure without any physical contact, and can also be transported and rotated by traveling pressure waves. In order to integrate acoustic levitation based devices in the microelectronics industry, a highly accurate and efficient positioning ability has to be realized. For this sake, a numerical scheme which models the acoustic levitation system by means of finite differences method was developed. By coupling this numerical scheme to a finite element model, an optimized levitation device with superior efficiency and axial positioning ability was designed.