New from PI is the P-733 XYZ nano-positioning and scanning system, suitable for UHV to 10-9hPa. These high-resolution piezo stages are designed for materials research, high resolution microscopy, ultra precision alignment and imaging applications. The parallel-kinematics design (only one common moving platform for XYZ) reduces the moved mass, and enables - together with the stiff design - higher operating speeds than other piezo scanning stages. A parallel metrology position sensor design provides highly accurate position information in all axes.
The P-733 range provides fast and highly accurate XYZ nanopositioning and scanning stages. These piezo systems provide a positioning and scanning range of 100x100x10 micrometres together with sub-nanometer resolution. The high-speed Z-axis (sub-millisecond response time) can actively compensate out-of-plane, Z-axis deviation during XY scans, important for AFM applications. The large clear aperture is an advantage in transmitted-light applications.
Capacitive gauges measure the platform position directly and without physical contact. This makes them free of friction and hysteresis, and allows very high levels of linearity, up to 99.99% with resolution to 0.1 nanometers. The Parallel Metrology configuration measures the stage platform in all degrees of freedom against a common, fixed reference.
In a parallel kinematics multiaxis system, all actuators act directly on the same moving platform. This means symmetrical dynamic properties of the X and Y axes, a prerequisite for fast, high-linearity scanning.
