• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.868-878
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• 1998

There are recently increasing needs for precision XYZ-stage in the fields of nanotechnology, specially in AFMs(Atomic Force Microscope) and STMs(Scanning Tunneling Microscope). Force measurements are made in the AFM by monitoring the deflection of a flexible element (usually a cantilever) in response to the interaction force between the probe tip and the sample and controlling the force neasyred constant topography can be obtained. The power of the STM is based on the strong distance dependence of the tunneling current in the vacuum chamber and the current is a feedback for the tip to trace the surface topography. Therefore, it is required for XYZ-stage to position samples with nanometer resolution, without any crosscouples and any parasitic motion and with fast response. Nanometer resolution is essential to investigate topography with reasonable shape. No crosscouples and parasitic motion is essential to investigate topography without any shape distortion. Fast response is essential to investigate topography without any undesirable interaction between the probe tip and sample surface ; sample scratch. To satisfy these requirements, this paper presents a novel XYZ-stage concept, it is actuated by PZT and has a monolithic flexible body that is made symmetric as possible to guide the motion of the moving body linearly. PZT actuators have a very fast response and infinite resolution. Due to the monolithic structure, this XYZ-stage has no crosscouples and by symmetry it has no parasitic motion. Analytical modeling of this XYZ-stage and its verification by FEM modeling are performed and optimal design that is to maximize 1st natural frequencies of the stage is also presented and with that design values stage is manufactured.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.75-82
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• 2004

A metrological atomic force microscope (M-AFM) was developed fur the length measurements of nanometer range, through the modification of a commercial AFM. To eliminate nonlinearity and crosstalk of the PZT tube scanner of the commercial AFM, a two-axis flexure hinge scanner employing built-in capacitive sensors is used for X-Y motion instead of PZT tube scanner. Then two-dimensional displacement of the scanner is measured using two-axis heterodyne laser interferometer to ensure the meter-traceability. Through the measurements of several specimens, we could verify the elimination of nonlinearity and crosstalk. The uncertainty of length measurements was estimated according to the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement. Among several sources of uncertainty, the primary one is the drift of laser interferometer output, which occurs mainly from the variation of refractive index of air and the thermal stability. The Abbe error, which is proportional to the measured length, is another primary uncertainty source coming from the parasitic motion of the scanner. The expanded uncertainty (k =2) of length measurements using the M-AFM is √(4.26)$^2$+(2.84${\times}$10$^{-4}$ ${\times}$L)$^2$(nm), where f is the measured length in nm. We also measured the pitch of one-dimensional grating and compared the results with those obtained by optical diffractometry. The relative difference between these results is less than 0.01 %.