New A-142 Nanopositioning Stage with Voice Coil Motor and Air Bearing Slide

Press Release Summary:

  • Delivers 10mm of hysteresis-free linear travel of 75x80 mm moving platform supporting 3kg loads
  • High motion performance with voice-coil motor achieves maximum 450 mm/s velocity and 20m/sec2 acceleration
  • Applications include wafer inspection, scanning, fiber alignment, laser micromachining and marking

Original Press Release:

Mini Nanopositioning Stage Based on High Dymamic Voice Coil Motor and Maintenance-free Air Bearing Slide

Cleanroom-compatible, this new high performance noncontact miniature linear slide from PI is suited for applications like wafer inspection, scanning/metrology, fiber alignment, laser micromachining and marking, autofocusing, and genome sequencing.

May 2021, Auburn, MA – PI’s air bearing motion product line is expanding again. The new A-142 high performance compact nano-positioning and linear alignment stage is designed with a voice coil motor and frictionless air bearing slide for highly repeatable motion with outstanding accuracy. This low-profile nanopositioning stage (only 27 mm high (1.1”)) is maintenance free, and due to its non-particle generating drive and guiding principle, cleanroom compatible. It delivers 10mm (0.4”) of hysteresis-free linear travel of its 75x80mm (≈3x3¼”) moving platform while supporting up to 3kg (6.6lbs) loads. The air bearing guide guarantees straightness of 100nm and flatness of 0.5µm. High motion performance is achieved with an integrated voice-coil motor that achieves a max. velocity of 450 mm/s and acceleration of 20m/sec2, a great advantage in dynamic scanning and positioning applications. That’s small and fast! Greater flexibility for alignment and metrology operations in Z is achieved with an optional pneumatic counterbalance to allow vertical mounting without a loss of motor performance. The A-142 can be operated as a standalone nanopositioning device, but for multi-axis motion requirements, combinations and integration into XY and XYZ assemblies are also available.

Application Fields

High accuracy industrial automation processes in fields such as semiconductor test and metrology, genome sequencing, bio-tech, medical engineering, high resolution microscopy, optics and photonics manufacturing.

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Working with You

PI’s in-house engineered solutions have enabled customers around the world to increase their productivity and technological advantage for 5 decades. With a large basis of proven motion technologies and methodologies, PI is in the position to quickly modify existing designs or provide a fully customized OEM solution to fit the exact requirements of your application from sensors and piezo transducers to microscope nano-focus units, fast photonics alignment systems to multi-axis automation sub-systems.

About PI

PI is a privately held company that designs and manufactures world-class precision motion and automation systems including air bearings, hexapods and piezo drives at locations in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company was founded 5 decades ago and today employs more than 1300 people worldwide. PI’s customers are leaders in high-tech industries and research institutes in fields such as photonics, life-sciences, semiconductors, and aerospace.

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