Design and Experiment of Vertical Motion Dual-stage with Piezo-actuated Nanopositioning Stage

Nanopositioning stage based on piezoelectric(PZT)actuators and flexure mechanisms has been widely used in dual-stage.Its favorable positioning accuracy and dynamic response can guarantee the high performance of the dual-stage.Here the vertical axis motion dual-stage is designed with piezoelectric actuator for the fine-stage and ball-screw drive integrated with wedge sliding mechanisms for the coarse-stage.The aim of the dual-stage is to meet the stringent requirement of scanning over a relative large range with high accuracy.The design results of the piezo-actuated nanopositioning stage show good static and dynamic performance,validated by the simulation of finite element analysis(FEA).Hysteresis nonlinearity due to the use of piezoelectric stacks for actuation is studied and compensated by aproportional-integral(PI)feedback controller.To qualify the design of the motion ranges and resolutions,an experiment platform is established.The experimental results show that the proposed dual-stage has a full range of 12 mm with the resolution of 40 nm.Guideline is provided for the design methodology of the vertical motion dual-range stages.

Electronically enhancing the long-range nanopositioning accuracy of a Lorentz force actuator

This paper presents a precision centimeter-range positioner based on a Lorentz force actuator using flexure guides.An additional digital-to-analog converter and an operational amplifier(op amp)circuit together with a suitable controller are used to enhance the positioning accuracy to the nanometer level.First,a suitable coil is designed for the actuator based on the stiffness of the flexure guide model.The flexure mechanism and actuator performance are then verified with finite element analysis.Based on these,a means to enhance the positioning performance electronically is presented together with the control scheme.Finally,a prototype is fabricated,and the performance is evaluated.This positioner features a range of 10 mm with a resolution of 10 nm.The proposed scheme can be extended to other systems.

High-bandwidth nanopositioning via active control of system resonance

Typically,the achievable positioning bandwidth for piezo-actuated nanopositioners is severely limited by the first,lightly-damped resonance.To overcome this issue,a variety of open-and closed-loop control techniques that commonly combine damping and tracking actions,have been reported in literature.However,in almost all these cases,the achievable closed-loop bandwidth is still limited by the original open-loop resonant frequency of the respective positioning axis.Shifting this resonance to a higher frequency would undoubtedly result in a wider bandwidth.However,such a shift typically entails a major mechanical redesign of the nanopositioner.The integral resonant control(IRC)has been reported earlier to demonstrate the significant performance enhancement,robustness to parameter uncertainty,gua-ranteed stability and design flexibility it affords.To further exploit the IRC scheme’s capabilities,this paper presents a method of actively shifting the resonant frequency of a nanopositioner’s axis,thereby delivering a wider closed-loop positioning bandwidth when controlled with the IRC scheme.The IRC damping control is augmented with a standard integral tracking controller to improve positioning accuracy.And both damping and tracking control parameters are analytically optimized to result in a Butterworth Filter mimicking pole-placement—maximally flat passband response.Experiments are conducted on a nanopositioner’s axis with an open-loop resonance at 508 Hz.It is shown that by employing the active resonance shifting,the closed-loop positioning bandwidth is increased from 73 to 576 Hz.Consequently,the root-mean-square tracking errors for a 100 Hz triangular trajectory are reduced by 93%.

Two-Photon Direct Laser Writing Beyond the Diffraction Limit Using the Nanopositioning and Nanomeasuring Machine

Since the first realization of two-photon direct laser writing(DLW)in Maruo et al.(Opt Lett 22:132-134,1997),the manufacturing using direct laser writing techniques spread out in many laboratories all over the world.Photosensitive materials with different material properties open a new field for micro-and nanofabrication.The achievable structuring resolution using this technique is reported to be sub-100 nm(Paz et al.in J.Laser Appl.24:042004,2012),while a smallest linewidth of 25 nm could be shown in Tan et al.(Appl Phys Lett 90:071106,2007).In our approach,the combination of DLW with the nanopositioning and nanomeasuring machine NMM-1 offers an improvement of the technique from the engineering side regarding the ultra-precise positioning(Weidenfeller et al.in Adv Fabr Technol Micro/Nano Opt Photon Ⅺ 10544:105440E,2018).One big benefit besides the high positioning resolution of 0.1 nm is offered by the positioning range of 25 mm×25 mm×5 mm(Jager et al.in Technisches Messen 67:319-323,2000;Manske et al.in Meas Sci Technol 18:520-527,2007).Thus,a trans-scale fabrication without any stitching or combination of different positioning systems is necessary.The immense synergy between the highly precise positioning and the DLW is demonstrated by the realization of resist lines and trenches whose center-to-center distance undergoes the modified diffraction limit for two-photon processes.The precise positioning accuracy enables a defined distance between illuminated lines.Hence,with a comparable huge width of the trenches of 1.655|im due to a low effective numerical aperture of 0.16,a resist line of 30 nm between two written trenches could be achieved.Although the interrelationships for achieving such narrow trenches have not yet been clarified,much smaller resist lines and trench widths are possible with this approach in the near future.

Fundamental Investigations in the Design of Five-Axis Nanopositioning Machines for Measurement and Fabrication Purposes

The majority of nanopositioning and nanomeasuring machines(NPMMs)are based on three independent linear movements in a Cartesian coordinate system.This in combination with the specific nature of sensors and tools limits the addressable part geometries.An enhancement of an NPMM is introduced by the implementation of rotational movements while keeping the precision in the nanometer range.For this purpose,a parameter-based dynamic evaluation system with quantifiable technological parameters has been set up and employed to identify and assess general solution concepts and adequate substructures.Evaluations taken show high potential for three linear movements of the object in combination with two angular movements of the tool.The influence of the additional rotation systems on the existing structure of NPMMs has been investigated further on.Test series on the repeatability of an NPMM enhanced by a chosen combination of a rotary stage and a goniometer setup are realized.As a result of these test series,the necessity of in situ position determination of the tool became very clear.The tool position is measured in situ in relation to a hemispherical reference mirror by three Fabry-Perot interferometers.FEA optimization has been used to enhance the overall system structure with regard to reproducibility and long-term stability.Results have been experimentally investigated by use of a retroreflector as a tool and the various laser interferometers of the NPMM.The knowledge gained has been formed into general rules for the verification and optimization of design solutions for multiaxial nanopositioning machines.

Attitude stability control system of mobile robot mechanism based on nanosensor

Aiming at the poor stability of attitude control of mobile robot mechanism, a kind of attitude stabilitycontrol system of mobile robot mechanism based on nanodisplacement sensor is designed.In the hardware part, a hydraulic drive is used to control the action posture of the mobile robot,a nanodisplacement sensor is used to collect the walking data of the robot, and serial communicationof the upper computer is used to convert the data into electrical signals to realise therobot posture control. In the software part, the mathematical coordinate system of robot walkingis constructed, and the rotating posture of the robot is controlled by the Euler angle. Theexperimental results show that the control performance of the designed system is stable andthe control precision is high, which can realise the attitude stabilisation control of the mobilerobot.

Tip-and Laser-based 3D Nanofabrication in Extended Macroscopic Working Areas

The field of optical lithography is subject to intense research and has gained enormous improvement.However,the effort necessary for creating structures at the size of 20 nm and below is considerable using conventional technologies.This effort and the resulting financial requirements can only be tackled by few global companies and thus a paradigm change for the semiconductor industry is conceivable:custom design and solutions for specific applications will dominate future development(Fritze in:Panning EM,Liddle JA(eds)Novel patterning technologies.International society for optics and photonics.SPIE,Bellingham,2021.https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2593229).For this reason,new aspects arise for future lithography,which is why enormous effort has been directed to the development of alternative fabrication technologies.Yet,the technologies emerging from this process,which are promising for coping with the current resolution and accuracy challenges,are only demonstrated as a proof-of-concept on a lab scale of several square micrometers.Such scale is not adequate for the requirements of modern lithography;therefore,there is the need for new and alternative cross-scale solutions to further advance the possibilities of unconventional nanotechnologies.Similar challenges arise because of the technical progress in various other fields,realizing new and unique functionalities based on nanoscale effects,e.g.,in nanophotonics,quantum computing,energy harvesting,and life sciences.Experimental platforms for basic research in the field of scale-spanning nanomeasuring and nanofabrication are necessary for these tasks,which are available at the Technische Universitiit Ilmenau in the form of nanopositioning and nanomeasuring(NPM)machines.With this equipment,the limits of technical structurability are explored for high-performance tip-based and laser-based processes for enabling real 3D nanofabrication with the highest precision in an adequate working range of several thousand cubic millimeters.

Development and Implementation of a Rotating Nanoimprint Lithography Tool for Orthogonal Imprinting on Edges of Curved Surfaces

Uniform molding and demolding of structures on highly curved surfaces through conformal contact is a crucial yet often-overlooked aspect of nanoimprint lithography(NIL).This study describes the development of a NIL tool and its integration into a nanopositioning and nanomeasuring machine to achieve high-precision orthogonal molding and demolding for soft ultraviolet-assisted NIL(soft UV-NIL).The process was implemented primarily on the edges of highly curved plano-convex substrates to demonstrate structure uniformity on the edges.High-resolution nanostructures of sub-200-nm lateral dimension and microstructures in the range of tens of microns were imprinted.However,the nanostructures on the edges of the large,curved substrates were difficult to characterize precisely.Therefore,microstructures were used to measure the structure fidelity and were characterized using profilometry,white light interferometry,and confocal laser scanning microscopy.Regardless of the restricted imaging capabilities at high inclinations for high-resolution nanostructures,the scanning electron microscope(SEM)imaging of the structures on top of the lens substrate and at an inclination of 45°was performed.The micro and nanostructures were successfully imprinted on the edges of the plano-convex lens at angles of 45°,60°,and 90°from the center of rotation of the rotating NIL tool.The method enables precise imprinting at high inclinations,thereby presenting a different approach to soft UV-NIL on curved surfaces.