High-Precision Stage Control

• # Software & System
• # Factory
• # Lithography Systems & Related Instruments

Technology Overview

In measuring and processing machines, the target object is placed on the stage, and the desired location can be measured and processed by accurately driving it according to the drive command amount. High-precision, high-speed control enables fast and accurate measurement and processing, leading to high-quality manufacturing and improved productivity in industrial products.

Energy, such as electricity, corresponding to the desired amount of drive is supplied to a driving device, like a motor that drives the stage, and is converted into motive power. This motive power is then transmitted to the stage, allowing it to move in the desired direction. To determine the required amount of drive, it is necessary to measure the exact position of the stage and select an appropriate drive method.
Planar stages generally have six degrees of freedom: three orthogonal and three rotational, requiring control of the stage’s posture and position. It is also essential to understand and suppress effects on the system, such as vibrations and heat from friction caused by the drive.

Lithography systems are required to move a large, heavy stage quickly and accurately to achieve the required fine pattern overlay accuracy and high throughput of the lithography process. In order to move the region of ​​interest of a microscope in response to user instructions, the stage drive must be able to be controlled to a position with greater precision at higher magnifications. Additionally, high-precision stage control is required for measuring instruments and processing machines.

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Technology Application Examples

FPD Lithography systems

As glass plates become larger each year, allowing a larger number of panels to be cut from them, it becomes necessary to increase productivity so that circuits over a wider area can be patterned with a single exposure. Nikon developed the multi-lens system based on its unique technologies as the solution to this problem. For efficient exposure, Nikon arranges multiple lenses in two rows that cover a large exposure area. FX-103SH/103S, the largest Nikon FPD lithography system, has as many as 14 lenses arranged in rows that are precisely controlled to function as one giant lens.
The effects of heat and other factors during the production process cause distortion of the glass plate. Nikon's multi-lens system is equipped with a mechanism that accurately detects this distortion and corrects it by precisely controlling the position and focal point of the transferred image of each lens. The system follows even the slightest distortion of the plate surface to enable high-precision exposure.

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Related Technology

Position & Drive Control

By providing the machine with instructions for the desired movement and processing them as input to the control system, the machine can move as designed. This enables complex movements, including prediction, rapid movements, and great forces, that are beyond human capability.

By driving parts of the optical system, such as mirrors and lenses, it is possible to scan the object to be observed with light or focus the light at a desired position. In interchangeable lenses, some of the lens groups are moved by motors to adjust the focus. High speed and quiet operation are particularly necessary when shooting video. In scanning microscopes, fundus cameras, laser radars, and other devices, mirrors must oscillate at high speed in order to scan objects at high speed.
Actuator units built into robot joints can drive the robot’s arms based on the joint angles measured by encoders.

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