Piezo-driven metrological multiaxis nanopositioner

We report on the development of a metrological multiaxis nanopositioning device, which is operated by the piezo-based inertial method, as a sample stage for scanning probe microscopy. It has long moving range, unlimited in principle, and nanometer ~microradian! resolution. Two operation methods, inertial sliding and inertial walking, can be applied to the stage and the inertial operating method can make the stage have a simple and compact structure. By the structure and operation method high positioning stability can be obtained which is an important requirement for scanning probe microscopy. For a metrological nanopositioner, a three axes laser interferometric sensing scheme is adopted for planar motion and a 15 channel high voltage amplifier is designed and computer based digital-to-analog conversion is adopted. Therefore the nanopositioner can be feedback controlled with many choices of voltage wave forms and control methods. Design of the nanopositioner and piezo-driver and experimental results are presented. The device provides step sizes of 0.016–10 mm at frequency up to about 7 kHz. The rotational range is limited by the interferometer alignment, 0.2°, and the step size is 0.17–103 arcsec. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. @DOI: 10.1063/1.1408932#