A serial-kinematic nanopositioner for high-speed atomic force microscopy

• Published in: Review of scientific instruments Vol. 85; no. 10; p. 105104
• Main Authors: Wadikhaye, Sachin P, Yong, Yuen Kuan, Moheimani, S O Reza
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.10.2014
• ISSN: 1089-7623
• DOI: 10.1063/1.4897483

A flexure-guided serial-kinematic XYZ nanopositioner for high-speed Atomic Force Microscopy is presented in this paper. Two aspects influencing the performance of serial-kinematic nanopositioners are studied in this work. First, mass reduction by using tapered flexures is proposed to increased the natural frequency of the nanopositioner. 25% increase in the natural frequency is achieved due to reduced mass with tapered flexures. Second, a study of possible sensor positioning in a serial-kinematic nanopositioner is presented. An arrangement of sensors for exact estimation of cross-coupling is incorporated in the proposed design. A feedforward control strategy based on phaser approach is presented to mitigate the dynamics and nonlinearity in the system. Limitations in design approach and control strategy are discussed in the Conclusion.