The ZVR stage integrates 10 mm of vertical (Z-axis) and 360° of continuous rotary (ϴ-axis) positioning with a unique low profile three-point drive and bearing design. It is designed primarily to precisely elevate and rotate 200- and/or 300-mm wafer chucks and other samples or objects requiring adjustments to align the object's orientation or to focus.
The ZVR rigidly supports and drives the payload at three points (separated by 120 degrees) along the outer circumference of the stage. Ordinary designs use a single cam, wedge, or screw located at the center of the stage. Newport’s three point design with an inline guide and drive, has advantages for applications that have slight to extreme unbalanced loading such as wafer probing, which can have vertical forces applied at locations along the outer edges of the chuck. Angular deflections due to these off-center loads are minimized and binding during vertical motion is eliminated.
An important feature of the ZVR's unique design includes a 50mm clear aperture through the center of the rotation stage to allow for cables, lines and other utilities.
Vertical motion is achieved with an open-loop stepper motor, and rotary motion is provided by a closed-loop DC motor with an ultra-high resolution 8,000 cts/rev rotary encoder. The rotary DC motor version of this stage is the recommended choice for applications requiring higher rotary speed and repeatability.
The ZVR Series features an upper limit switch with a 4-mm adjustment range enabling the user to set the upper limit of travel. These stages are also equipped with a hardware origin that serves as an absolute reference (home) position.
Newport guarantees specification values which are measured and recorded following ASME B5.57 and ISO 230-2 standards. The typical performance values are two times better than the guaranteed specifications.
Compatible motion controllers for ZVR-PC are:
* Minimum Incremental Motion for Z-axis is 0.25 µm with SMC100PP controller.
Ultra-High Velocity