3-axis force compensated piezo stage combination for high-speed SPM

Abstract Scanning stages are immanent for scanning probe microscope type tools and highly impact most of their properties, such as scanning speed and positioning accuracy. In this contribution, a serial assembly of an in open-loop operated 3-axes monocrystalline piezo stage with an in closed-loop operated 6-axes polycrystalline piezo stage is presented. The monocrystalline piezo stage is applied to enhance the limited bandwidth of the polycrystalline piezo stage and includes an internal compensation mechanism for reaction forces. The compensation mechanism is designed to operate the scanner as a no retroactive stage by reducing the dynamic scanning motion errors in high-speed application to a minimum. It works for sinusoidal oscillations and shows a frequency dependence. The monocrystalline piezo stage has a position noise of <0.1 nm (1 σ ) in z -direction, positioning bandwidth >1 kHz and travel range 1 × 1 × 1 μm in x-, y-, z -direction, respectively. The 6-axes piezo stage complements this assembly with a position noise of <0.35 nm (1 σ ) in x-, y - and z -direction, a closed-loop bandwidth >200 Hz, a rotation range of ±0.5 mrad, and a travel range 45 × 45 × 45 μm in x-, y-, z -direction, respectively.