Control of nanopositioning and nanomeasuring machines with a modular FPGA based data processing system

For precise length measuring techniques, highly dynamic positioning stages are used to measure and manipulate objects with a resolution in subnanometer range. The position and the orientation of these systems have to be controlled permanently to compensate external disturbances such as sound waves, thermal expansion of the mechanical components, and ground motion. Because of new applications in the area of microsensing devices the dynamic or path accuracy is in addition to the stationary accuracy a critical feature. To improve the dynamic behavior of these machines, an efficient friction compensation as well as a high perfomance signal- and data processing system is necessary. This work presents a realization of a control system with friction compensation for a nanopositioning and nanomeasuring machine based on FPGA technology. Particular attention was paid to the obtainable sampling rate and its impact on the attainable path accuracy.