Integrated Control Strategies for a Precision Long-Travel Stage: Applications in Micro-Lens Fabrication
Journal
Micromachines
Journal Volume
16
Journal Issue
10
Start Page
1105
ISSN
2072666X
Date Issued
2025-10
Author(s)
Abstract
This paper develops multiple control strategies for a precision long-travel stage, which comprises motor and piezoelectric transducer (PZT) stages. First, the PZT stage is equipped with control switching and model estimation mechanisms to achieve nm-level precision within 100 μm distances. The control switching mechanism selects the optimal control sequences by predicting system responses, while the model estimation algorithm updates the system model to improve the prediction accuracy. Second, the motor stage is equipped with gain-scheduling and feedforward control mechanisms to achieve a maximum displacement of 100 mm with a resolution of 0.1 μm. The gain scheduling control modifies the control gain in accordance with tracking errors, while the feedforward control can mitigate phase lags. We integrate the stages to achieve nm-level precision over long travels and conduct simulations and experiments to show the advantages of the control mechanisms. Finally, we apply the long-travel precision stage to fabricate micro-lenses using two-photon polymerization and evaluate the fabricated micro-lenses’ optical characteristics to illustrate the merits of the control strategies.
Subjects
control switching
feedforward
gain scheduling
micro-lens
model estimation
precision stage
robust control
two-photon polymerization
Publisher
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)
Type
journal article