A-142 PIglide Voice Coil Linear Stage with Air Bearings

Ultra-Compact Motorized Air Bearing Linear Stage

The A-142 miniature linear translation stage is a unique, high performance precision nanopositioning system, featuring a direct-drive voice coil linear motor, a high-resolution linear encoder and frictionless and stiff air bearing guides. It is ideally suited for maintenance-free, high duty cycle industrial scanning and positioning applications. The special design of this voice coil-driven stage does not use any internal moving cables.

Miniaturized Stage Design for High Performance Linear Motion

Despite its small size, this miniature linear translation stage provides high performance linear motion that cannot be met by conventional stages with mechanical bearings. Air bearing slides do not require lubricants and do not generate particles which makes them cleanroom compatible, another advantage in photonics, optics and semiconductor related test, metrology and alignment applications. Since the direct-drive, voice coil linear motor and the air bearings are completely maintenance-free and wear-free, this compact translation stage can be used in industrial, high throughput, 24/7 precision motion applications.

High Precision, Repeatability and Ultra-Smooth Motion

Based on the direct measuring linear encoder, and the lack of friction in the direct drive motor and air bearing linear guides, this miniaturized air bearing slide can provide extremely smooth motion in a very wide dynamic range. It provides, high velocity up to 450 mm/s and high acceleration to 2 g. The integrated linear encoder features 5 nanometers of sensor resolution and the stage platform provides 50 nanometers minimum incremental motion. It can be commanded to any position within its travel range with 0.1 µm position repeatability. The high speed and acceleration of the voice coil linear motor stage are an asset when it comes to high velocity scanning applications.

Vertical Z-Stage Operation – Counterbalance Option

The A-142 miniature translation stage is also available with a counterbalance to enable operation as a vertical positioning stage. The counterbalance keeps the motor current down during steady stage / position hold operations.

Multi-Axis Miniature Stage Applications – Miniature XY Tables and XYZ Stages

Two A-142 air bearing miniature stages can be assembled to form a miniature XY table and compact 3-axis stage combinations are also available, for example to handle complex high-speed multi-axis alignment tasks on small optical or fiber optical components. Talk to a PI engineer about your application to get free advice for the best system configurations.

Motion Controllers, Programming, Computer Control Options

PI offers a selection of high-performance motion controllers to program and operate these air bearing miniature linear slides. We recommend EtherCat^® compatible controllers, such as the A-811 – A-814 series of high-performance ACS-based motion controllers. PI motion controllers come with a host of programming examples, available alignment routines and a simulation tool that allows customers to write programs and run basic system tests before their motion system is shipped.

Why use Air Bearings and Air Bearing Stages?

Linear air bearings (and rotary air bearings as well) provide better geometric performance (pitch, yaw, roll, straightness and flatness, wobble and eccentricity) than conventional mechanical bearings. They replace the rolling or sliding contact from mechanical ball bearings or cross-roller bearings with a friction-free air film for a virtually unlimited service life. Air bearing linear slides and rotary tables are ideally suited for clean room applications, because they do not rely on lubricants and do not generate particles. PI has engineering teams with decades of air bearing design, manufacture and assembly experience and can provide a large spectrum of air bearing motion systems, from standard single-axis miniature stages to complex customized multi-axis granite motion systems.

Why use Voice-Coil Motors in Compact Linear Stages?

Voice coil linear motors provide frictionless linear motion with very rapid response, acceleration and high velocity. For applications where 24/7 high dynamics scanning motion is required, with travel ranges of typically 25 mm (1 inch) or below, a voice coil linear motor is an ideal solution. Its compact design, maintenance-free and particle generation free operation are additional advantages. For longer travel ranges, 3-phase linear motors are recommended, such as found in the A-123 air bearing linear slides or V-417 linear stages with mechanical bearings.

Accessories and Options

• PIglide filter and air preparation kits
• Pneumatic counterbalance for vertical stage mounting

Applications for Miniature Air Bearing Stages

The A-142 air bearing miniature linear stage is ideally suited for high-precision motion applications, such as metrology, photonics alignment systems, optics positioning, and scanning. The noncontact design is ideal for cleanroom applications.