In the field of scanning probe microscopes (SPMs), a precision positioning stage has become an important component as the requirement of the SPMs has been extended from high resolution to high accuracy. The stages used in SPMs plays a role of transferring a specimen or a probe in multiple directions. The stage should satisfy the requirements for small parasitic motion, compactness, high speed and fast response. However, a number of previously developed multi-axis stages were stacked system or serial kinematics system. Therefore, the conventional stages were heavy, thick or asymmetric. In this research, we will propose an ultra precision XY parallel kinematics stage using a coupled flexure leaf spring mechanism which is actuated by piezoelectric transducers. This research includes performance analysis and parametric design of the stage. The designed stage is monolithic, symmetric and compact. The characterization of a coupled flexure leaf spring and analysis on the sensitivity of design parameters extracted from a finite element method (FEM) simulation are included in this study. Simulation results show that the natural frequency of the optimally designed stage in each direction is higher than 150Hz.
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