Simple two-dimensional piezoelectric micropositioner for a scanning tunneling microscope

A simple piezoelectric tube device is described which allows remote micropositioning in two dimensions with step sizes from ∼50 to ∼3000 nm. Speeds up to 0.1 mm/s have been achieved. It uses the principle of inertial sliding of a mass on an accelerated support. The design is a modification of a one-dimensional device which was recently reported in the literature. The device is compact, rigid, and has low thermal drift.