Design and testing of a hollow single-actuation vertical stage integrated into an XYZ nanopositioner

This paper proposes a novel hollow single-actuation vertical stage (HSVS) aimed at reducing planar errors of the plane of the end-effector in XYZ nanopositioners. The proposed HSVS placed the actuator outside the center of the end-effector by designing a spatial lever amplification mechanism (SLAM), thus the hollow center is preserved. To generate spatial motion, an XY stage is designed by employing a lever displacement amplification structure with an L-shaped flexure hinge, and then it is combined with the proposed HSVS. Furthermore, this paper utilizes the compliance matrix and Lagrange equation to model the nanopositioner, followed by its parameter optimization. Finally, this paper conducted a series of experiments to validate the effectiveness of both the proposed HSVS and the designed nanopositioner. All experimental results indicate that the XYZ nanopositioner can achieve three degrees-of-freedom translational motion within a workspace measuring 101 μ m × 105 μ m × 19 . 9 μ m. Concurrently, the result effectively verifies that excellent flatness can be obtained in the case of ensuring the center through the hole of the proposed HSVS for XYZ nanopositioner. Additionally, coupling errors in non-working directions are less than 5 . 2 μ m , and positioning accuracy is ± 20 nm. • Propose a single-actuation vertical stage reducing planar error. • Modeling analysis and experimental design verified the nanopositioner’s performance. • The nanopositioner offers a 101 × 105 × 19.9 μ m range with ± 20 nm accuracy.