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NANO Technology

Forty years ago there was a need by both the scientific community and the military/aerospace companies for a manual adjusting mechanism to align and position test equipment with extremely high resolution over a large linear or angular range. This mechanism also had to have excellent long-term stability. Aerotech filled that need with a novel product – the patented Coarse and Fine Adjustment and Positioning Mechanism (US Pat. No. 3,727,471). This large range and high resolution device was well-accepted and used by all of the leading research facilities. By incorporating this device Aerotech developed products with a linear resolution of 25 nanometers over 50 millimeters of travel, and sub-arc-second angular resolution over a large angular range. These devices are still being used today.

In the ensuing years positioning and aligning requirements continued to grow, demanding ever higher performance in accuracy, speed, and resolution. Aerotech responded with state-of-the-art technologies resulting in products with up to 1.5 meters of travel, submicron accuracy, and nanometer resolution. These products broke productivity barriers by combining high speed and precision positioning for maximized throughput.

Now the need arises again to create equipment that enables us to measure, manipulate, affect, and view nanometer structures over a large area. To achieve this goal Aerotech has, once again, advanced the state-of-the-art in high precision motion control. Our nano Motion Technology series nanopositioning stages provide the extreme accuracy, resolution, repeatability, and in-position stability required to fundamentally change the precision positioning marketplace. Current nanopositioning stages include the ANT95-L linear, ANT95-XY dual-axis linear, and ANT130-L linear, each of which provides nanometer-level performance with exceptionally long travels. We’ve also developed the ANT-20G nanopositioning goniometer.

Development continues and we hope you will check back often as we continue to expand this revolutionary line of nanopositioning stages.

Aerotech’s NanoTranslation (ANT95-L, ANT95-L-H) crossed-roller stages combine speed, accuracy, resolution, repeatability, reliability, and compact size, and are offered in two accuracy grades. As an evolution of the popular ANT stage family, these linear stages exhibit enhanced motion performance over Aerotech’s first generation ANT series. Product improvements such as 5 g acceleration, 500 mm/s velocity, enhanced load capacity, and standardized, universal base mounting patterns allow the use of this flexible stage family in an even wider range of configurations than its predecessors.

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The ANT95-XY crossed-roller-bearing, linear motor, dual-axis stage continues the evolution of the ANT series of stages. The ANT95-XY and ANT95-XY-H are three-piece designs that allow travel in two dimensions (X and Y). The sleek design provides an extremely low profile of only 60 mm. The stage comes with proprietary direct-drive motor technology, noncontact linear encoders, limits, integrated cable management system, and two grades of accuracy.

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1 nm Best-In-Class Resolution

1 nm step plot for ANT95-L

1 nm Best-In-Class Resolution

1 nm step plot for ANT95-XY

The ANT130-L series stages offer best-in-class performance in speed, accuracy, resolution, repeatability, reliability, travel range, and are offered in two accuracy grades. With its low profile and outstanding performance characteristics, the ANT130-L is the ultimate solution for high-accuracy alignment, inspection, positioning, and measurement stations.

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The ANT130-XY crossed-roller-bearing, linear motor, dual-axis stage continues the evolution of the ANT series of stages. The ANT130-XY and ANT130-XY-H are three-piece designs that allow travel in two dimensions (X and Y). The sleek design provides an extremely low profile of only 85 mm in travel options including 60 x 60 mm, 110 x 110 mm, and 160 x 160 mm.

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1 nm Best-In-Class Resolution


5 nm step plot for ANT130-XY

The ANT95-R direct-drive rotary stages are designed as part of Aerotech’s nano Motion Technology product family. Our rotary stages offer unprecedented in-position stability (0.005 arc sec) and incremental motion (0.01 arc sec) performance.

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The ANT130-R direct-drive rotary stages are designed as part of Aerotech’s nano Motion Technology product family. Our rotary stages offer unprecedented in-position stability (0.005 arc sec) and incremental motion (0.01 arc sec) performance.

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0.01 arc sec Best-In-Class Resolution

0.01 arc sec Best-In-Class Resolution

Aerotech’s ANT95 series linear-motor vertical travel stages offer 25 or 50 mm travel with nanometer-level positioning performance. The ANT95-L-Z and ANT95-L-Z-PLUS crossed-roller stages are the best-in-class in combining speed, accuracy, resolution, repeatability, reliability, and size, and are offered in two accuracy grades.

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Aerotech’s ANT130 series linear-motor vertical travel stages offer 35 or 60 mm travel with nanometer-level performance. The ANT130-L-Z and ANT130-L-Z-PLUS crossed-roller stages are packaged in an extremely small-profile and compact footprint, and have universal mounting and tabletop patterns for easy system integration.

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Aerotech’s ANT95 series stages are the world’s first nanometer-level positioning systems with multi-millimeter travel. The ANT95-3-V and ANT95-3-V-PLUS are linear-motor-driven wedge-style vertical lift stages. The stage is designed to be seamlessly integrated with other stages in the ANT95 family for superior multi-axis performance.

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The ANT130-5-V is a linear-motor-driven, wedge-style, vertical-lift stage with exceptional resolution (2 nm), repeatability (100 nm), accuracy (200 nm), and in-position stability (1 nm). The stage is designed to be seamlessly integrated with other stages in the ANT130 family for superior multi-axis performance.

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Aerotech’s ANT-20G goniometers represent a significant breakthrough in the high-accuracy angular alignment of components. This unique design utilizes Aerotech’s best-in-class, direct-drive motor technology. When used with Aerotech’s controllers, the ANT-20G series provides an industry-leading positioning speed of 150 degrees per second and accuracy to ±30 µrad.

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