Up to 600 N Driving Force at 20 mm Travel: High-load Linear Actuators for Nanopositioning

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17th February 2010

Source: Physik Instrumente (PI) GmbH & Co. KG

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Up to 600 N Driving Force at 20 mm Travel: High-load Linear Actuators for Nanopositioning

Piezoceramic stepping drives which combine large travel ranges with resolutions of better than 1 nm (0.001 µm) open up many application areas in nanopositioning. This includes semiconductor manufacturing, testing equipment and wafer inspection as well as nanolithography or nanometrology and active vibration control, e.g. in mechanical engineering. Because precision drives are very reliable, they are used directly there where the motion is required and also where the access is difficult. The facts such as that they are additionally not affected by even strong magnetic fields and safely hold loads also, when powered down, make them interesting for further applications, e.g. in space.

With the N-216 series NEXLINE drives, Physik Instrumente (PI) from Karlsruhe has now available in its product range new high-load linear actuators which combine travel ranges of 20 mm, pull or push forces of up to 600 N and positioning accuracies in the nanometer range.They are suitable for open-loop and closed-loop operation: The integrated encoder of the versions which can be operated in closed-loop mode has a resolution of 5 nm over the total travel range. In open-loop mode, e.g. for highly dynamic applications, position resolutions of up to 30 picometers are achieved. In order to make the best possible adjustment of the drives to the relevant application, two different controllers are available: The E-755 offers all functions for a positioning with nanometer accuracy and covers thus most applications well. The E-712 controller system additionally has improved linearization algorithms for extremely steady motion and allows faster feed-forward motions with maximum force.
The NEXLINE drives produce the feed forward using a combination of longitudinal and shearing piezos, i.e. piezo actuators with different motion characteristics. If they are driven appropriately, clamping as well as also driving motions can be realized, which resemble the motion of a quadruped. The load can thus be moved with constant speed over the total distance. Additionally, in this way the position can be actively readjusted after the target position is reached. This can be used to compensate vibrations. Since the drives have no moving parts such as gears or leadscrews, there is no mechanical play and no wear.