SURFACE ACOUSTIC WAVE ATOMIZER

There is provided a surface acoustic wave atomizer which can guide a liquid to an atomizing area on a substrate surface stably at a constant quantity per unit time and can limit a distribution of the liquid on the substrate surface, so that a stable and efficient atomization and a deterioration control of an interdigital transducer and so on can be achieved with a simple configuration. The surface acoustic wave atomizer includes a piezoelectric substrate which has a pattern electrode on a surface and a liquid supply member for supplying a liquid to the surface and atomizes the liquid supplied to the surface by surface acoustic wave, and between the liquid supply member and the surface of the piezoelectric substrate, a small gap is provided in an area which is designed to hold and guide the liquid and a large gap is provided in an area which is not designed to supply the liquid, so that the liquid is supplied to an atomizing area in an area away from the pattern electrode in the surface of the piezoelectric substrate by using a difference in surface tension due to sizes of the gaps. The liquid can be supplied stably by the small gap and a distribution of the liquid can be limited by the large gap.