Characterization of a Piezoworm Stage

A novel complementary clamp piezoworm stage was developed to be integrated into an XY configuration for applications such as microarray manufacture. The actuator is a complementary clamp piezoworm which acts directly on the stage slide without additional coupling. Open loop tests showed that the stage is capable of a no-load speed of 8.5 mm/s, a force capacity of 6 N and can move a mass in excess of 17 kg.