#nanopositioning

[my-asianewstoday-blog]

Vacuum-Compatible High Load Hexapod, New from PI http://dlvr.it/TT9mRx

[my-asianewstoday-blog]

PI at Photonics West: See the Latest Advancements in Nanopositioning Automation and Precision Motion Control http://dlvr.it/TQCLK2

[oumf]

DIY nanopositioning stage

I want a nanopositioning stage that’s less expensive than a commercial one but less rubbish than those piezo buzzer ones. I found these 1x1x5mm PZT multilayer stacks on ebay for <£10 each which work great and designed this very simple flexure for them.

The stage is driven by ±100V and has ~4µm of travel (20nm per volt). It probably doesn’t have the best repeatability because of hysteresis but I can’t measure displacements smaller than 0.2µm so I can’t characterise it.

I’m planning on adding a third piezo on the end of the beam and trying to use it in an atmospheric STM (since piezo buzzers can be used for STM I think it could work)

PS. if you make something like this add diodes to protect it from over-voltages. I fried a piezo to learn this.