ETEL: Active Isolation System
As a worldwide leader in Direct Drive Technology, ETEL has built its outstanding reputation over the past 40 years by providing state‐of‐the‐art, highly reliable and unique products dedicated to Motion Control. Benefiting from multi‐disciplinary competences in magnetic designs, bearing technology, metrology concepts, motion control architecture, simulation tools and materials, ETEL is a supplier of choice for advanced mechatronics solutions.
ETEL offers a wide range of motion systems, from stand alone products to highly integrated platforms. It addresses the most stringent requirements mainly in semiconductor and electronics applications, allowing the machine builder to focus on his core competence.
This construction provides the simplest form of 2 linear degrees of freedom of a positioning system where the base of the top axis is screwed to the carriage of the lower axis.
Ironcore linear motors with reduced cogging
High precision linear encoder
High precision recirculating caged ball bearings, for stiffness and smooth running
External cable management system
This configuration has the best accessibility to the space around it per footprint of the machine. It is commonly used as single cell, or in process application where several machines are operating over a conveyor.
Gantry configuration, driven by linear motors and designed for high natural frequency, can provide an excellent solution that combines high precision, high speed and low settling time.
The rotary table's performance, which significantly exceed levels achieved with a conventional solution, is determined by the best integration of these elements:
High performance torque motor
Precision bearings
High precision rotary encoder
High rigidity mechanical structure
The Abbé error is a linear positioning error caused by a combination of an angular error in the bearing ways (way of motion), and an offset distance between the measuring device (lead screw, encoder, etc) and the actual point of interest.
with h being the distance between the encoder and the tool point. To minimize the Abbé error, the distance h must be as short as possible.
The accuracy is the difference between the actual position of a mechanical system and the expected position. It is typically specified in micron or arcsec per given travel for a deviation of ±3sigma. For example, an accuracy of ±3µm (±20arcsec), at ±3sigma, per 300mm (300°) travel means that if the axis moves to a position 300 mm (300°) away from the current position, the final position will end between 299.997 (300.0056 deg) and 300.003 (299.9944 deg), 99.7% of the time. The accuracy is influenced by the feedback system (encoder, laser interferometer...), the drive mechanism and the type of bearing.
The axial runout is the positioning error of the top of a rotary table in the vertical direction when the table is rotating in the horizontal plane.
The backlash is an error in positioning caused by the reversal of travel direction. It is caused by a clearance between the elements of the mechanical system. The backlash also affects the bidirectional repeatability. The backlash can be compensated by the position controller.
The coefficient of friction is the ratio of the force required to move load to the magnitude of that load. There are two coefficients: the static and the dynamic one (static coefficient > dynamic coefficient).
For a repetitive cycle, the duty cycle is the ratio of ’on’ time to total cycle time. Duty Cycle = (on time/(on time + off time)) x 100%.
The flatness is a vertical deviation from the plane of travel.
The horizontal straightness is a horizontal deviation from the straight line of travel. An horizontal straightness deviation in the travel of the X-axis will cause a positioning error in the Y direction.
The hysteresis error is a deviation between the actual and the commanded position caused by elastic forces accumulated in the motion system. It affects the accuracy and the bidirectional repeatability.
The orthogonality is the degree of perpendicularity between the line of travel of the two stacked axes. If the two travel lines are not orthogonal, the Y-axis travel creates a positioning error in the X direction (for a X-Y table).
The pitch is a rotation (angular deviation from the ideal straight line of travel) around an axis in the horizontal plane (for the example mentioned below) perpendicular to the direction of travel. For the X-axis travel, a pitch will cause an Abbé error in the X and Z directions.
The radial runout is the positioning error of a rotary table’s centering diameter in the horizontal direction when the table is rotating in the horizontal plane.
The repeatability is the ability of a motion system to reliably achieve a commanded position over many attempts under identical conditions. The unidirectional repeatability is the ability to repeat a movement in one direction only (and ignores the effects of backlash or hysteresis within the system). The bidirectional repeatability is the ability to repeat a movement from both directions. By default, the measurement of the repeatability is made with unloaded system.
The resolution is the smallest possible movement that can be achieved by a system. It can be defined at the electronics, encoder and mechanics level.
The roll is a rotation (angular deviation from the ideal straight line of travel) around an axis in the horizontal plane (for the example mentioned below) parallel to the direction of travel. For the X-axis travel, a roll will cause an Abbé error in the Y and Z directions.
Sigma (s) is the standard deviation. It indicates how far a given process deviates from the nominal value, the lower the better. For a normally distributed movement, which is often assumed for position values, a result of 3s=0.1micron (=2arcsec) guarantees 99.7% of the measurement to be between ±0.1micron (2s=0.1micron leads to 95.4% between ±0.1micron, s=0.1micron leads to 68.3% between ±0.1micron) or ±2arcsec (2s=2arcsec leads to 95.4% between ±2arcsec, s=2arcsec leads to 68.3% between ±2arcsec).
The thermal expansion is a change of the size and shape of a system when the temperature is modified. The amount of change is dependent on the size of the component, the degree of temperature change and the characteristics of the material.
The vertical straightness is a vertical deviation from the straight line of travel. A vertical straightness deviation in the travel of the X-axis will cause a positioning error in the Z direction.
The wobble is the angular error between the perpendicular to the interface plate and the actual axis of rotation, when the beta (b) and gamma (g) angles are corrected.
(a): angle with the fastening surfaces
(b): angle between the actual axis of rotation and the base of the rotary table
(g): angle between the perpendicular to the interface plate and the actual axis of rotation
The yaw is a rotation (angular deviation from the ideal straight line of travel) around an axis in the vertical plane (for the example mentioned below) perpendicular to the direction of travel. For the X-axis travel, the yaw will cause an Abbé error in the X and Y directions.
Active Isolation System
A new solution for vibration isolation
The QuiET Active Isolation System is a new module cancelling both stage-born and ground-born vibrations along 6 Degrees Of Freedom (6 DOF), preventing them from perturbing the process taking place on top of your motion platform.
Most of the time, high-end applications in the semiconductor industry integrate complex equipment set-up, which, in one way or another, is connected to the granite of the motion platform. As such, any vibration at the granite level translates into inaccuracies and longer settling times at the process tool level. Thanks to ETEL’s solution, getting rid of those vibrations has never been done so efficiently!
Pushing motion performance to the next level!
The QuiET Series is pushing one step further ETEL’s Forward Integration Strategy. From now on, an advanced motion platform from ETEL does not only include the advanced motion system and its associated state-of-the-art motion controllers, but can also benefit from ETEL’s proprietary active isolation module. This makes ETEL the only motion system supplier able to cover such a wide scope of supply!
Thanks to a proprietary low-noise sensor and an homogeneous, fully digital, and deterministic motion control architecture based on 1 Gb TransnET, ETEL reduces move and settle times to unprecedented values. With an acceleration feedforward accuracy reaching higher than 99%, less than 1% of the energy generated by a motion stage movement remains at the granite level! The mass of the granite on the active isolation system can therefore be kept small, which in turn reduces the overall real estate and mass, while processing tools directly benefit from a quieter environment.
Modular, Scalable and Serviceable
The QuiET Series has been designed to be highly modular and scalable. Thanks to a list of preselected active and passive components, ETEL can very quickly find the optimized solution accommodating your needs! Spring elements, Lorentz actuators and proprietary sensors are embedded within a sandwich-based architecture that is then customized to fulfill any system requirements and makes serviceability easier in the field. The controllers of the QuiET module and those of the motion platform are all standard AccurET controllers and can be located in the same rack or electrical cabinet.
A user friendly graphical interface is available. It is compliant with any type of stage configuration and includes:
Automatic tuning of the feedforward parameters
Identification of the system
Built-in leveling capabilities