A NEW 2-DIMENSIONAL CAPACITIVE POSITION TRANSDUCER

A new capacitive position-measurement system with the capability of si multaneously measuring displacements in x- and y-directions is present ed. It is based on measuring the position of a movable sensor head rel ative to a matrix of reference electrodes, which constitutes a form st andard. A laboratory model using printed-circuit-board (PCB) technolog y shows the following features: a range of 85 mm x 60 mm, a resolution better than 100 nm x 100 nm and a repeatability better than 200 nm X 200 nm (peak-to-peak).