Precision motion and positioning

PI offers a broad portfolio of motorized linear stages. The huge variety of applications also means a huge variety of technical possibilities for the linear axes. Travel ranges extend from a few millimeters to meters and for precision classes, from nanometers to micrometers: PI adapts the drive, guides or sensor technology to the application conditions.

PI’s piezo flexure stages combine sub-nanometer resolution and guiding precision with minimum crosstalk. This makes them particularly suitable for applications in metrology, for super resolution microscopy, for interferometry or in inspection systems for semiconductor chip production.

PI offers stages with all kinds of motorization and guiding options: air-bearing, torque motor driven, motorized worm-gear coupled, tiny piezomotor stages and specialized goniometer stages with orthogonal tip-tilt mounting option. All of them can be mounted to multi-axis combinations with corresponding linear, vertical and XY stages.

PI makes use of own developments in the fields of PIMag® magnetic linear motors and PIglide air bearings. Industrial production and quality control benefit from PI’s high-load XY stages and planar scanners.

Hexapods provide motion in six degrees of freedom in the most compact package. In combination with absolute measuring sensors, software and motion controllers that make the most complicated motion profiles easy to command, PI hexapods answer industrial requirements.

Set-and-forget applications benefit from the specific features of piezomotors that provide excellent long-term stability, also for vacuum or nonmagnetic environments.  Stepper and DC motor solutions are well-established and reliable for both industrial and research use.

Piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers are available in a wide range of shapes like disks, plates or tubes, and different performance levels. They can be adapted to application requirements by using different piezoceramic materials, electrodes, and assembling technology. They are present wherever ultrasound is needed, like in flow metering, structural monitoring, and many medical applications.

Air bearing stages are used where vibration-free motion is required, velocity needs to be highly constant, and optimum angular repeatability is requested.

Air bearings avoid friction, wear, and backlash effects. PIglide linear, rotary and spherical bearings are precision components that can be integrated and motorized for applications in OEM, industrial, and research markets.

The decision for a motion controller depends on the specific application situation. Various criteria, such as limited installation space, the number of axes or the drive type, determine which controller is the right one. PI offers a broad spectrum of controllers and regulation concepts.

PI offers the nanometrology capacitive sensor technology that is used in the superior nanopositioning stages also as a component for integration in OEM applications.

Precision components, stable control and a great deal of experience in engineering are essential for high-precision complex motion and positioning solutions. PI is a supplier of technologically sophisticated motion-centric solutions and therefore makes use of own drive components and high-precision positioners. All levels of integration can be offered up to multi-axis combinations that use different drive technologies including motion control.

PI’s Fast Multi-Channel Photonics Alignment (FMPA) systems are based on a highly specialized digital motion controller (E-712) and a hybrid active alignment mechanism to achieve the required long travel ranges without sacrificing stability, resolution or alignment speed. FMPA is implemented in the E-712 controller’s modular firmware to enable fast, simultaneous alignment and tracking of multichannel couplings in multiple degrees of freedom.