We report the nano-scale patterning of concentric ring-shaped metal corrugations around a sub-wavelength aperture in
Ag deposited on top of a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser. The presence of the rings results in more than a doubling
of collected far-field power and a reduction in far-field angular width from 100° to 28°. These nano-aperture lasers thus
have the unique property of both a small near-field spot and a relatively low beam divergence. Finite-difference timedomain
simulations confirm the experimental results and show that the far-field pattern is highly sensitive to
misalignment of the aperture and to the presence of multiple transverse laser modes.
In this paper we discuss a self-calibration technique for a dual-actuated, single-axis nanopositioner and extend ideas
from this method to develop a calibration technique for a two-axis system. The proposed methods exploit concepts of
measurement transitivity and redundancy that are will established in self-calibration theory. The developed method has
been applied to a dual-actuated single-axis nanopositioner equipped with capacitive displacement sensors with a
calibration error in the sub-nanometer range. For the two-axis system, the technique uses a right angle prism as an
artifact to calibrate two orthogonal axes. Transitivity between the axes is obtained through the use of a redundant or
'dummy' uncalibrated sensor that maintains the hypotenuse of the right angle prism invariant during sets of
measurements. Because, the approach relies on the accuracy of the prism, it cannot be considered to be a self-calibration
technique. Nevertheless, experiments indicate that it calibrates a two-axis stage to within 1 nm of the prism.
Micro-positioning stages fabricated using Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) based processes have been
critical in enabling micro/nano manipulation and probing. These stages have been extensively used in micro-force
sensors, scanning probe microscopy and micro optical lens scanners. This paper presents the design, kinematic and
dynamic analysis, fabrication and characterization of a novel monolithic micro-positioning XY stage. The design of the
proposed micro-positioning stage is based on a Parallel Kinematic Mechanism (PKM). The PKM based design
decouples the motion in the XY direction. Additionally, it restricts the parasitic rotation of the end-effector (table) of the
micro-positioning stage while providing an increased motion range. The motion of the stage is linear in the operating
range thus simplifying its kinematics. The truss like parallel kinematic mechanism design of the stage structure reduces
its mass while keeping the stage stiffness high. This leads to a high natural frequency of the micro-positioning stage
(1250Hz) and a high Q-factor of 156. The stage mechanism is fabricated on a Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) substrate and is
actuated by integrated electrostatic rotary comb drives. The fabrication process uses multi-layer patterning along with an
Inductively Coupled Plasma Deep Reactive Ion Etching (ICP-DRIE). The use of ICP-DRIE enables the high aspect ratio
etching that is required for the stage fabrication and its optimal actuation using the integrated electrostatic rotary comb
drives. The fabricated stages have a motion range of more than 30 microns of decoupled displacements along the X and
Y directions at a driving voltage of 200V.
We developed a novel piezo-driven parallel-kinematics single crystal silicon micropositioning XY stage. This monolithic design features parallelogram four-bar linkages, flexure hinges and piezoelectric stack actuators. The stage is made from single crystal silicon because it has excellent mechanical properties compared to metals, which result in high bandwidth, large work zone and compact size of the stage. Kinematics and dynamics analysis were performed for the design. We also developed microfabrication procedures to make the prototype of the stage. Experiment results show that the mechanical structure of the stage can deliver a 400μm by 400μm square work zone without failing any flexure hinges. With two piezoelectric stack actuators mounted, the stage is able to do open-loop contouring in a 32μm by 32μm work zone with 160V driving voltages applied. The resonation frequencies of the stage are between 1,300 and 1,400Hz.
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