A compact, dual-stage actuator with displacement sensors for the molecular measuring machine

In this dissertation, we present the design, modification, optimization, assembly, performance characterization, calibration, and uncertainty analysis for a compact, for the Molecular Measuring Machine (M3) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The 3 is a scanning probe microscope (SPM) designed for making measurements with nanometer-level uncertainty over a working area of 50 mm by 50 mm. The design of the Z-motion assembly is a particular challenge due to various constraints, especially a limited available volume of 25 mm in height and 35 mm in diameter, and the need for repeatable motion generation with integrated high resolution sensors.;In the ultra limited space, the Z-motion assembly is composed a coarse-motion stage and a fine-motion stage. The coarse-motion stage is a piezoceramic inchworm-like stepping motor with a potentiometer-type position sensor. It is capable of translating the probe over a 3 mm range with overshoot-free steps ranging from 1 microm to 2 microm. The fine-motion stage is a flexure-guided, piezoceramic-driven actuator to generate high-speed motion with a linear differential capacitive position sensor. A flexure-hinge drive plate is designed as a motion amplifier to keep the stroke of the fine-motion actuator at more than 8 microm. An analytical solution is developed and optimization routines are used to optimize the design of the drive plate. The calculated deformations of the flexure amplifier show good agreement with experimental results. A differential capacitance gauge with high signal-to-noise ratio AC bridge is designed as the fine-motion position sensor, which has noise floor better than 0.1 nm. To validate the performance and calibration, a series of step-height gratings with step heights ranging from 84 nm to 1.5 microm are measured using the Z-motion assembly and compared with the calibration results from NIST. The uncertainty budgets for measurements made with the Z-motion assembly are evaluated and found to be about 1% with a coverage factor k = 2 (95 % confidence interval). Follow-up work to integrate the Z-motion assembly into 3 and use high accuracy step-height samples to calibrate the capacitance gauge in situ is suggested to reduce the uncertainty further.