• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.23 no.1 s.178
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• pp.129-135
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• 2006

In this study, a two-axis ultra-precision stage driven by piezoelectric elements is presented. The stage has a flexure-type parallel linear guide mechanism consisting of quad-symmetric simple parallel linear springs and quad-symmetric double compound linear springs. While the simple parallel linear springs guide the linear motion of a moving plate in the stage, the double compound linear springs follow the motion of the simple parallel linear spring as well as compensate the parasitic motions caused by the simple parallel linear springs. The linear springs are designed by rectangular beam type flexures that are deformed by bending deflection rather than axial extension, because the axial extension is smaller than the bending deflection at the same force. The designed guide mechanism is analyzed by finite element method(FEM). Then two-axis parallel linear stage is implemented by the linear guide mechanism combined with piezoelectric elements and capacitance type displacement sensors. It is shown that the manufactured ultra-precision stage achieves 3 nm of resolution in x- and y-axis within 30 ${\mu}m$ of operating range.