An XYZ Micromanipulator with three translational degrees of freedom

This paper introduces a three degree of freedom XYZ Micromanipulator (XYZM) that is fabricated in the x - y plane and positions components in the x, y, and z directions using three independent linear inputs. The mechanism positions components on a platform using three legs, each composed of a slider mechanism and a parallelogram mechanism. Three versions of the XYZM were fabricated and tested using surface micromachining processes: the rigid-body, offset, and compliant XYZM. Slider displacements of 45 micrometers result in a predicted out-of-plane displacement of 188 micrometers for the rigid-body XYZM, 205 micrometers for the offset XYZM, and 262 micrometers for the compliant XYZM.