Development of a piezoelectric hybrid-driven nanopositioner using combined leaf-spring-shaped and C-shaped flexure hinge mechanism

Abstract This paper presents a novel piezoelectric hybrid-driven nanopositioner using combined leaf-spring-shaped and C-shaped flexure hinge mechanism. The piezoelectric hybrid-driven nanopositioner combines the piezoelectric stick-slip-driven nanopositioner and piezoelectric scanner in a single and compact device. This advance can decrease the size of nanoscratch-AFM hybrid system and make nanoscratch-AFM hybrid system compatible with the limited space of SEM vacuum chamber. A flexure hinge combining leaf-spring-shaped mechanism and C-shaped mechanism is developed to improve the load capability of piezoelectric stick-slip-driven nanopositioner. Unlike existing methods of improving load-capability by decreasing kinetic friction force value, the proposed flexure hinge employs C-shaped structure to decrease the retraction motion time of kinetic friction force, which can achieve high-load and compact structure simultaneously. Finite element analysis is implemented to optimize the thickness of the leaf-spring-shaped mechanism and diameter of the C-shaped mechanism. A prototype is fabricated and its experimental system is established. The mechanical output experiments show that the piezoelectric scanner achieved a maximum travel range of 4.9 μm, and piezoelectric stick-slip-driven nanopositionerm achieves a maximum load of 2 Kg. Experimental results of the nanoscratch-AFM hybrid system inside a standard SEM HITACHI SU5000 demonstrate that the proposed piezoelectric hybrid-driven nanopositioner is capable of nanoscratch positioning.