High Speed Nanopositioner with Magneto Resistance-Based Position Sensing

High bandwidth, high resolution nanopositioning is a key enabling technology for nanoscale metrology and manipulation. A scanner design with good dynamical behavior is essential for high speed nanopositioning. Through a combination of high stiffness/rigidity of the flexures, a low carried mass, and direct mechanical connections, an X-Y scanner is designed which has excellent dynamical behavior with the first resonant frequencies beyond 4 kHz in both scan axes. For closed loop operation of such fast scanners, there is a need for high bandwidth, low noise sensing schemes. A sensing concept based on the property of magneto-resistance (MR) shows great potential towards enabling low-noise position sensing over a very wide bandwidth. This paper details experimental studies in achieving high bandwidth nanopositioning through a combination of scanner design with superior dynamical behavior, novel low noise, high-bandwidth MR-based position sensing, and modern control techniques.