ISSN:
1089-7623
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Physics
,
Electrical Engineering, Measurement and Control Technology
Notes:
The hammer-action effect produced by the closing of a miniature electromechanical relay was used to propel a rod along a track by the stick–slip inertial slider effect, with step sizes in the range of 30–500 nm and at frequencies up to 75 Hz. The rod was held tightly against the track by spring loaded balls so that the device worked well in any orientation, including vertical motion against gravity. The device was tested as the coarse approach mechanism in a scanning tunneling microscope, at room temperature and liquid nitrogen temperature. The voltage sensitivity actually increased as the temperature was lowered, which is a vast improvement over the piezoelectrically driven micropositioners previously reported in the literature. Further advantages over the piezotranslators are the simple square pulse driving voltage, the much reduced sensitivity to slider surface contaminations, and the improved rigidity. Motion in two- or three-dimensions would be possible by using two or three such translators mounted orthogonally. © 1997 American Institute of Physics.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1147847
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