'Thermal stepper': A high stability positioning system for micro adjustment

摘要

Aligning parts with sub micrometer accuracy and stability is often accomplished with very tight production tolerances or complicated and expensive alignment mechanisms. A new simple positioning mechanism (patent pending) has been designed. The mechanism is specially suited for sub micrometer initial component alignment but can also be used to re-position components to their nominal position during lifetime. The mechanism can be operated remotely or by integrated electronics without physical human contact. In this paper the new concept, the realized test setup and the first measurement results are presented.