RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND UPGRADES IN-PROGRESS OF A PRECISION SIX DEGREE-OF-FREEDOM MAGNETICALLY SUSPENDED MEASURING INSTRUMENT

摘要

The Center for Precision Metrology houses a custom measuring instrument previously referred to as the Long Range Scanning Stage (LORS) and, most recently, as the Sub-Atomic Measuring Machine (SAMM) [1, 2]. This unique instrument was developed through collaboration between researchers at UNC-Charlotte and MIT. The SAMM has a 25 mm by 25 mm by 100 μm working volume and currently has a 3-sigma positioning noise of approximately 0.4 nm. Systems such as the SAMM rarely achieve their full operating capabilities immediately and in most cases require years of development to reach their potential. New technology developments, both hardware and software, have allowed the initial design goals to be surpassed. From 1997, when the SAMM was first completed, processor speeds have increased from around 200 MHz to nearly 3.8 GHz. Presented in this paper are the progress of the updates to achieve 10 pm measurement resolution and efforts to decrease the controller induced positioning noise and the measurement uncertainty.