A micro-positioning end-stage for precise multi-axis motion control in optical lithography machines:preliminary results

A flexural hinge-based fine stage mechanism is proposed to compensate micro-positioning errors in semi-conductor manufacturing motion systems, i.e. lithography machines. To assess the performance of the proposed fine stage, as an end-stage in the lithography machine, a dynamical model of the lithography machine is presented. The developed dynamical model consists of multiple open-loop chains with possibly more than one motion stage in each chain. Being attached to the common machine frame, the motion stages in a chain not only affect each other, but also affect other stages in different chains through the structural connections available. Working specifically with one variant of the proposed end-stage, the effectiveness of that variant in minimizing in-plane micro-positioning errors in lithography machines is demonstrated through numerical simulation