Using Piezoceramic-Actuated Stages in Precision Long-Stroke Motion Systems: A Design Procedure

Mainly, the integration of fine positioning piezo-actuated stages in precision motion systems is considered, which results in multi-stage configurations. Mostly, in such configurations, the fine stages are attached to the coarse positioning stages- that do not meet required precision- by mechanical means. Once the motion is synchronized, the fine stages enhance the overall precision of the multi-stage system. Undesirably, mechanical, and electromagnetic interference between the in-volved stages take place, which may limit the possible attainable precision. To control the fine stages, we propose the use of feedforward control based on the Prandtl-Ishlinskii model inverse in an attempt to accommodate related piezoceramics dynamic behavior and hysteresis. Targeting the semiconductor manufacturing, the needed multi-stage design steps according to the herein proposed approach are outlined. Also, the performance of a representative precision motion system comprising a planner coarse stage, and a uni-axial fine stage under step-and-scan trajectories is assessed. The results show that the proposed piezo-actuated fine stage improves the scanning accuracy of the overall motion system.