Planar Air Bearing XY Stage

PI, a global leader in precision motion control and nanopositioning technology, offers expanded travel range options for its popular A-311 low-profile planar air bearing XY stage family. Available travel ranges now include 50 × 50 mm, 100 × 100 mm, 150 × 150 mm, 200 × 200 mm, 300 × 300 mm, and 300 × 400 mm. These compact planar air bearing stages are designed for demanding applications such as semiconductor inspection, wafer metrology, laser processing, optical measurement, and advanced automation systems.

Optional XY-Theta Configuration

• For applications requiring rotational positioning, the A-311 can be combined with a low-profile Theta-Z air bearing rotary stage to create a highly integrated three-axis XY-Theta motion platform. This configuration is particularly well suited for wafer inspection, precision alignment, and laser machining applications where both translational and rotational motion are required.

• Compact Design with High Precision

• Unlike traditional granite-based planar stages, the A-311 series utilizes a hard-coated aluminum base and integrated direct-drive linear motors, resulting in a significantly lighter, more compact, and cost-effective design while maintaining exceptional motion performance. The stage achieves geometric accuracies such as 1 µm straightness over 300 mm of travel and approximately 10 nm straightness over a 10 mm scan length, with orthogonality errors as low as 10 µrad over 300 mm.
• The integrated encoder options include both incremental and absolute measuring systems. Absolute encoder configurations provide:
• 1 nm position resolution
• 0.1 µm bidirectional repeatability
• 0.2 µm positioning accuracy

Advanced Motion Control

The A-311 platform is driven by a high-performance EtherCAT® motion control architecture that incorporates advanced technologies such as ServoBoost® and NanoPWM®. These features optimize servo performance, improve positioning resolution, and enhance system adaptability across a wide range of payloads and dynamic operating conditions.

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Why Choose Air Bearing Motion Systems?

Air bearing stages operate on a thin film of pressurized air, creating completely frictionless motion without mechanical contact. This non-contact design eliminates stick-slip, minimizes hysteresis and reversal errors, and delivers exceptional velocity stability. Since there are no rolling elements or mechanical wear surfaces, air bearing stages maintain their performance over extended service lifetimes without lubrication or maintenance. In addition, the air film produces a surface-averaging effect that significantly improves straightness, flatness, pitch, roll, and yaw performance compared to conventional mechanical bearing systems. These characteristics make planar air bearing stages an ideal solution for semiconductor manufacturing, precision metrology, photonics, and cleanroom environments where the highest levels of motion accuracy, repeatability, and reliability are required.
 

A granite based planar air bearing stage