DESIGN AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A LOW-PROFILE MICROPOSITIONING STAGE

This paper discusses the design and characterization of a new, single- axis, low-profile, piezo-driven vertical motion micropositioning stage for use in laser welding applications. A low-profile configuration is attained by mounting the piezo actuator horizontally and using a nove l lever arrangement to transfer the horizontal motion of the actuator into the desired vertical motion. An analytical model for the static a nd dynamic behavior of the stage is presented, along with finite eleme nt (FE) modeling verification. A 200 mu m motion-range stage was built , and tests show that the stage has a vertical stiffness of 6.0 N/mu m and a resonance frequency of 364 Hz. The results are in very close ag reement to those predicted by the model.