Nanopositioning using the spiral of Archimedes: The probe-based storage case

Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS)-based scanning probes appear as potential candidates for a wide variety of emerging nanoscale applications, including ultra-high-density data-storage and surface imaging. In this work, a spiral trajectory nanopositioning scheme is proposed as an alternative to the conventional raster positioning pattern. The resulting positioning signal has an extremely narrowband frequency content, which shifts very slowly over time. These properties enable enhanced tracking performance and offer potentially uninterrupted high-speed operation. The mathematical analysis of the spiral positioning signal as well as its properties are presented. Experimental results obtained from applying the new nanopositioning scheme on a MEMS-based scanning-probe data-storage setup for thermomechanical storage on polymer medium are illustrated.