Nano-positioning X-Y stage with the function of displacement detection

To meet the requests of miniaturization and high precision of nano-positioning X-Y stage, a novel 2-DOF single crystal silicon (SCS) nano-positioning micro X-Y stage with the function of displacement detection was successfully developed using silicon bulk machining, and its principle was introduced in this paper. Based on the combination of theoretical analysis and finite element simulation, a sidewall piezoresistor in plane technique was proposed to fabricate piezoresistor sensor in the micro X-Y stage. The experimental results verify the reasonable ness of micro X-Y stage design. Under the driving voltage of 23.68 V, the maximal displacement of X-Y stage is 10 μm in each of the four directions, with the positioning precision of better than 20 nm. The piezoresistor sensor of 4.2 kΩ is tested using semi-automatic probe stage and its breakdown voltage is 75 V. The sensitivity of the fabricated piezoresistor, namely, the relative changes in resistance, is 3.6 × 10 ^-5 under the displacement of 10 nm, which fully meets the design requirements.