Nanopositioning and Nanomeasuring Machines (NPMM), developed at TU Ilmenau provides high-precision measurement and positioning of objects across 10 decades, from 20 pm resolution up to 200 mm measuring range. They are working on the basis of the error-minimal, extended three dimensional Abbe-comparator principle, with high precision fibre coupled laser interferometers and several optical, tactile and atomic force probes.
The proof of the enormous accuracy repeatedly comes up against the limits of the realisation of representational standards.
In addition to increasing the frequency stability of He-Ne lasers to 10-12, enormous progress has been made in correcting the refractive index of the laser wavelength. Measurement files of up to 6 TByte can be generated.
Further development is moving in the direction of utilising the enormous precision of the machines for AFM tip-based and laser-based nanofabrication. The publication presents measurement and processing results and discusses the enormous possibilities of this new technology.
|