| Nov 20, 2020 |
PI's XYZ Piezo-Driven Nanopositioner Enables BPL Desktop Nanoprinter |
| (Nanowerk News) Based on a flexure-guided design, PI’s P-611 piezo nanopositioning stage combines high precision and dynamics in a compact package. Also known as the NanoCube®, this closed-loop stage delivers 120µm travel range in 3 degrees of freedom – ideal applications such as photonics alignment and Beam Pen Lithography (BPL). |
| One of the advantages of BPL is its flexibility to create arbitrary, programmable patterns, independent of fixed photomasks with no need to create a new master for each variation. This maskless technique saves both time and cost, making it ideal for prototyping. |
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| P-611 XYZ piezo nanopositioner in award-winning desktop nanoprinter by TERA-print. |
| PI’s closed-loop piezo system handles the motion part in the TERA-print TERA-Fab™ E series platform. The piezo XYZ stage precisely moves the substrate under the beam pen array between light exposures and enables rapid reconstruction of an arbitrary, high-resolution pattern - up to 100,000s of sub-250nm pixels at a time. The nanopositioning mechanism is actuated by special multilayer piezo stacks whose ceramic encapsulation provides protection against humidity and moisture, important in bio-chemical applications. |
Long-Life Piezo Actuators, Good Enough for NASA |
| The XYZ piezo stage is driven by ceramic-encapsulated preloaded and flexure motion-amplified PICMA® piezo actuators that provide better performance and reliability than conventionally insulated piezo actuators. Actuators, guidance, and sensors are maintenance-free, not subject to wear, humidity and moisture tolerant, and offer extraordinary lifetime and cost-effectiveness. In reliability tests carried out by NASA/JPL for the Mars Mission, the actuators survived 100 billion cycles without failures. |
| Learn more about the Desktop Nanoprinter Application |
Working with You |
| PI’s in-house engineered components have enabled customers around the world to increase their productivity and technological advantage for 5 decades. With a large basis of standard piezo components and materials as well as precision motion products, PI is in the position to quickly modify existing designs or provide a fully customized OEM solution to fit the exact requirements of your application from sensors and transducers to microscope auto-focus units, fast positioning stages to multi-axis automation systems. |
About PI |
| PI is a privately held company that designs and manufactures world-class precision motion and automation systems including air bearings, hexapods and piezo drives at locations in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company was founded 5 decades ago and today employs more than 1300 people worldwide. PI’s customers are leaders in high-tech industries and research institutes in fields such as photonics, life-sciences, semiconductors, and aerospace. |
| Source: PI (press release) |
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