Temporary stage (PI M-545.2MO),

[NemoAndrea]

With limited time for development I am going to be focussing on optics development and make do with this stage which I managed to get my hands on through shadowy means.

It is a motorised version of the (PI M-545.2MO), and has crossed roller bearings but no encoders. It's claimed step accuracy/backlash is in the 5um range so it won't do any miracles; but in theory with the right encoders that should be more than enough.

It should at least have the mechanical stiffness and flatness required for lithography, so for now I have no urgent need to find something better.

You can see it in the flesh in the discussion about the simple vacuum stage that was developed for it ↗.

Note

In principle the original idea of using the snapmaker stages is still viable I think; and I may still give that a shot once I get the optics dialed in. Those snapmaker stages (or products like it) should be easily sourcable, whereas the PI stage is too expensive.