Calibration of Nanopositioning Stages

Accuracy is one of the most important criteria for the performance evaluation of micro- and nanorobots or systems. Nanopositioning stages are used to achieve the high positioning resolution and accuracy for a wide and growing scope of applications. However, their positioning accuracy and repeatability are not well known and difficult to guarantee, which induces many drawbacks for many applications. For example, in the mechanical characterisation of biological samples, it is difficult to perform several cycles in a repeatable way so as not to induce negative influences on the study. It also prevents one from controlling accurately a tool with respect to a sample without adding additional sensors for closed loop control. This paper aims at quantifying the positioning repeatability and accuracy based on the ISO 9283:1998 standard, and analyzing factors influencing positioning accuracy onto a case study of 1-DoF (Degree-of-Freedom) nanopositioning stage. The influence of thermal drift is notably quantified. Performances improvement of the nanopositioning stage are then investigated through robot calibration (i.e., open-loop approach). Two models (static and adaptive models) are proposed to compensate for both geometric errors and thermal drift. Validation experiments are conducted over a long period (several days) showing that the accuracy of the stage is improved from typical micrometer range to 400 nm using the static model and even down to 100 nm using the adaptive model. In addition, we extend the 1-DoF calibration to multi-DoF with a case study of a 2-DoF nanopositioning robot. Results demonstrate that the model efficiently improved the 2D accuracy from 1400 nm to 200 nm.