Self-heating and thermal strain displacement of piezoelectric ceramic stack actuator with fast response and large stroke

Abstract Ultra-fast and ultra-precision positioning systems that use piezoelectric ceramic stack actuators (PCSAs) as core actuators are widely used in lithography machines and semiconductor processing equipment. However, the electric field-induced domain wall motion and dielectric loss lead to the self-heating of the piezoelectric ceramic layers of the PCSA driven by high frequency and high electric field, which not only causes its temperature rise, but also affects its output displacement accuracy and the temperature rise of the surrounding optical devices. In order to accurately quantify the self-heating power, temperature rise and influence on its output displacement, the theoretical models of the self-heating power, temperature rise and thermal strain displacement of the PCSA with different volume to surface area ratios under different driving voltages (including frequency, amplitude, duty cycle and continuous working time) in atmospheric and vacuum environments were established, respectively. Based on the theoretical models, numerical simulations were conducted on the self-heating power, temperature rise of the PCSA and the thermal strain displacement caused thereby. These simulation results were then compared with the results of finite element analysis (FEA) simulation and experimental measurement respectively. The research results show that the theoretically predicted self-heating power, temperature rise of the PCSA, and the thermal strain displacement caused by them are basically consistent with those of the FEA simulation and experimental measurements. This indicates that the established theoretical models can describe the phenomenon of the self-heating and thermal strain of the PCSA. This will contribute to the quantitative analysis of the self-heating temperature rise of the PCSA and its impact on its output displacement, thereby laying a theoretical foundation for the design of PCSA-based optical machine systems with high-performance.