An Ultrathin Monolithic XY Nanopositioning Stage Constructed From a Single Sheet of Piezoelectric Material

The paper describes an XY nanopositioning stage constructed from flexures and actuators machined into a single sheet of piezoelectric material. Ultrasonic machining is used to remove piezoelectric material and create electrode features. The constructed device is 0.508 mm thick, and has a travel range of 8.6 μm in the X and Y axes. The first resonance mode occurs at 597 Hz, which makes the device suitable for a wide range of standard nanopositioning applications where cost and size are considerations. Experimental atomic force microscopy is performed using the proposed device as a sample scanner.