Over many years the precise positioning technology was developed primarily for the semiconductor industry. This field requires mainly two-dimensional positioning with high accuracy. With the emergence of nanotechnology came the need for new types of precision positioning tools that go beyond the requirements of the conventional semiconductor sector. The functional structures of nano-devices are on the nanometer or even picometer range. Yet the dimensions of the entire devices are in most cases much larger. Thus, there are two new mechanical requirements: large travel ranges (up to one inch or more) and - at the same time - extremely accurate positioning with nanometer or sub-nanometer resolution. Furthermore, a higher number of axes is often necessary. The opto-electronic telecom market was the starting point for absolutely new technologies for many-axis alignment- often more than 12 axes. Nanotechnology requires still more resolution and accuracy.
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