A novel operation regime for capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (cMUTs). The collapse-snapback operation in which the center of the membrane makes intermittent contact with the substrate. This combines two distinct states of the membrane (in-collapse and out-of-collapse) to unleash unprecedented acoustic output pressures into the medium. The collapse-snapback operation utilizes a larger range of membrane defection profiles (both collapsed and released membrane profiles) and generates higher acoustic output pressures than the conventional operation. Collapse-snapback operation meets the extreme acoustic transmit pressure demands of the ultrasonic industry.