Study of a stage drive mechanism using a piezo actuator and microgroove guide

In this study, a slider with numerous fine V-shaped grooves was fabricated on a silicon substrate using crystalline anisotropic wet etching. By meshing two of these sliders together to form a single-axis guide mechanism, the authors construct a single-axis miniature positioning stage that drives the upper slider by friction by moving the lower guide using the expansion and contraction of a piezo actuator. In this stage, the upper and lower sliders transition between a state where they move as a single unit due to friction and a state where they move independently due to sliding, enabling coarse motion. This report describes changes in friction drive characteristics when varying the expansion/contraction speed of the piezoelectric actuator.