Micro-Machined Capacitive Linear Encoder with a Mechanical Guide

Contact-type Linear Encoder-like Capacitive Displacement Sensor (CLECDiS) is a novel displacement sensor which has wide measurable range with high resolution. The sensor, however, is very sensitive to relative rotational alignment between stator and mover of the sensor as well as its displacement. In addition to, there can be some disturbances in the relative rotational alignment, so some noises occur in the sensor's output signal by the disturbances. This negative effect of the high sensitivity may become larger as increasing sensitivity. Therefore, this negative effect of the high sensitivity has to be compensated and reduced to achieve nanometer resolution of the sensor. In this study, a new type capacitive linear encoder with a mechanical guide is presented to reduce the relative rotational alignment problem. The presented method is not only to reduce the alignment problem, but also to assemble the sensor to the stage conveniently. The method is based on a new type CLECDiS that has mechanical guide autonomously. In the presented sensor, when the device is fabricated by micro-machining, the guide-rail is also fabricated on the surface of the sensor. By the direct fabrication of the guide-rail with high precision micro-machining, errors of the guide-rail can be reduced significantly. In addition, a manual yaw alignment is not required to obtain large magnitude of the output signal after the assembly of the sensor and the stage. The sensor movement is going to follow the guide-rail automatically. The prototype sensor was fabricated using the presented method, and we verify the feasibility experimentally.

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