Compact programmable controller for a linear piezo-stepper motor

A design of a compact and low-cost programmable high-voltage pulser for a linear piezo-stepper motor, using an 8 bit reduce instruction set computers (RISC) microcontroller, a high-voltage complementary metal oxide semiconductor (HVCMOS) converter, and an adjustable three-terminal high-voltage regulator is presented. The design consists of 12 independent digital channels of high-voltage output and two-operation modes—normal and smart. The generator is applied as a controller for an approach mechanism in a scanning probe microscope. The motor shows translation of about 1 mm/min with step size of about 100 nm.