Design and Research for High Precision Coplanar Stage

For the development of micro- and nano-technology, the demand for high-precision-positioning stage become more vital. With many two-dimensional stages, they are composed of two one-dimensional stages. This approach will produce more assembly errors. As a result, time and money will be wasted in compensation. Most long-distance-positioning stages are composed of one-coarse stage that provides long movement; while a fine stage provides micro-positioning. In order to minimize these assembly errors, this research develops a co-planar two-dimensional stage.
Piezoelectric ceramic material is regarded as the actuator in the design of the precision positioning devices. With distinct intensity of electric field, frequency and waveform applied to the material, the piezoelectric ceramic can transform into different types of mode shapes. In this research, Piezoelectric Ceramic Linear Motor (PCLM) is used as the actuator. Along with the design of different driving circuits, the driving of the resonant state provides long distance movement, and the driving of high voltage mode provides micro-positioning. Furthermore, the piezoelectric ceramic can be applied to long traveling distance in micrometer scale and precision driving device in nanometer scale with the two types of driving instead of the coarse-fine stage.
In the design of the positioning program, the stage sold by ANORAD, the linear encoder and a signal processing circuit are used. In addition, the positioning program is accomplished with LabVIEW, and Data Acquisition (DAQ) cards produced by National Instrument.