Design and Development of a Compact Flexure-Based $XY$ Precision Positioning System With Centimeter Range

This paper presents the design and development of a novel flexure parallel-kinematics precision positioning stage with a centimeter range and compact dimension. The stage mechanism is devised using leaf flexures to achieve a decoupled and modular structure. Structural parameters are carefully designed to guarantee the range, stiffness, resonant frequency, and payload capabilities in consideration of manufacturing tolerance. The parametric design is verified by conducting finite-element analysis, which reveals a reachable motion range over 20 mm in each working axis. Moreover, a prototype XY stage is fabricated, which is actuated and sensed by two voice coil motors and laser displacement sensors, respectively. Experimental results demonstrate that the stage is capable of positioning with a workspace over 11 mm × 11 mm. It is more compact than existing works, which is reflected by a larger area ratio of workspace to planar dimension. Both static and dynamic tests exhibit a small crosstalk between the two axes, which indicates a well-decoupled motion property. The implemented feedback control enables a precision positioning with submicrometer resolution and accuracy. The control bandwidth and payload influences on stage performances are experimentally examined as well.