PI (Physik Instrumente), a manufacturer of piezo nanopositioning systems and scanners for microscopy, bio-medical and nanotechnology applications, has released a catalogue on planar piezo scanners for atomic force and scanning probe microscopes.
The catalogue covers a variety of novel closed-loop planar piezo scanners, and controllers with advanced digital features for higher scanning rates, improved linearity and responsiveness.
Compared to conventional piezo tube scanners, the low-bow, flexure guided piezo stages are run in closed-loop mode and provide significantly lower out of plane motion (flatness) and better linearity. A special stage designed with a new lead-free piezo material allows resolution down to 20pm and less than 1nm hysteresis.
Flexure stages with travel ranges to 1,800µm are available and many different configurations from single axis to six-axis systems are offered.
For high stability, pre-positioning, and as a stable basis for the fast piezo scanners, self-locking ultrasonic motor stages with long travel ranges to 200mm are also available.