A large deflection and high payload flexure-based parallel manipulator for UV nanoimprint lithography: Part II. Stiffness modeling and performance evaluation

• A flexure-based parallel manipulator that carries high payload and provides nanometric resolution over a large workspace.
• Stiffness modeling that accurately predicts the stiffness characteristics of the flexure-based parallel manipulator.
• Automates a nanoimprint lithography process that successfully replicated nano-scale features with desired tolerances.

This paper presents a flexure-based parallel manipulator (FPM) that delivers nanometric co-planar alignment and direct-force imprinting capabilities to automate an ultra-violet nanoimprint lithography (UV-NIL) process. The FPM is articulated from a 3-legged Prismatic-Prismatic-Spherical (3PPS) parallel-kinematic configuration to deliver a θx–θy–Z motion. The developed FPM achieves a positioning and orientation resolution of ±10 nm and 0.05″, respectively, and a continuous output force of 150 N/A throughout a large workspace of 5°×5°×5 mm. Part I mainly focuses on a new theoretical model that is used to analyze the stiffness characteristics of the compliant joint modules that formed the FPM, and experimental evaluations of each compliant joint module. Part II presents the stiffness modeling of the FPM, the performance evaluations of the developed prototype, and the preliminary results of the UV-NIL process.