Andrew Fleming | The University of Newcastle (original) (raw)

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Papers by Andrew Fleming

The Review of scientific instruments, 2009

Due to their high stiffness, small dimensions, and low mass, piezoelectric stack actuators are ca... more Due to their high stiffness, small dimensions, and low mass, piezoelectric stack actuators are capable of developing large displacements over bandwidths of greater than 100 kHz. However, due to their large electrical capacitance, the associated driving amplifier is usually limited in bandwidth to a few kilohertz or less. In this paper the limiting characteristics of piezoelectric drives are identified as the small-signal bandwidth, output impedance, cable inductance, and power dissipation. A new dual amplifier is introduced that exhibits a small-signal bandwidth of 2 MHz with a 100 nF capacitive load. The dual amplifier is comprised of a standard high-voltage amplifier combined with a fast low-voltage amplifier to improve performance at higher frequencies. Experiments demonstrate a 300 kHz sine wave of 20 Vp-p amplitude being applied to a 100 nF load with negligible phase delay and a peak-to-peak current of 3.8 A. With a voltage range of 200 V and peak current of 1.9 A a standard amplifier would require a worst-case power dissipation of 380 W. However, the dual-amplifier arrangement has a worst-case power dissipation of only 30 W. The penalty is reduced range at high frequencies and slower operation from the high-voltage stage.

The Review of scientific instruments, 2012

This Note describes a new technique for estimating the resolution of nanopositioning systems. By ... more This Note describes a new technique for estimating the resolution of nanopositioning systems. By recording the voltage applied to an actuator and performing a filtering operation, the position noise and resolution can be estimated. This technique is simple to apply in practice and does not require any additional sensors or specialized equipment.

The Review of scientific instruments, 2010

Many forms of scanning probe microscopy require a piezoelectric actuator to vary the probe-sample... more Many forms of scanning probe microscopy require a piezoelectric actuator to vary the probe-sample distance. Examples include constant-force atomic force microscopy and constant-current scanning tunneling microscopy. In such modes, the topography of the sample is reconstructed from the voltage applied to the vertical piezoelectric actuator. However, piezoelectric actuators exhibit significant hysteresis which can produce up to 14% uncertainty in the reproduced topography. In this work, a charge drive is used to linearize the vertical piezoelectric actuator which reduces the error from 14% to 0.65%.

The Review of scientific instruments, 2011

The mechanical design of a high-bandwidth, short-range vertical positioning stage is described fo... more The mechanical design of a high-bandwidth, short-range vertical positioning stage is described for integration with a commercial scanning probe microscope (SPM) for dual-stage actuation to significantly improve scanning performance. The vertical motion of the sample platform is driven by a stiff and compact piezo-stack actuator and guided by a novel circular flexure to minimize undesirable mechanical resonances that can limit the performance of the vertical feedback control loop. Finite element analysis is performed to study the key issues that affect performance. To relax the need for properly securing the stage to a working surface, such as a laboratory workbench, an inertial cancellation scheme is utilized. The measured dominant unloaded mechanical resonance of a prototype stage is above 150 kHz and the travel range is approximately 1.56 μm. The high-bandwidth stage is experimentally evaluated with a basic commercial SPM, and results show over 25-times improvement in the scanning performance.

The Review of scientific instruments, 2009

Due to their high stiffness, small dimensions, and low mass, piezoelectric stack actuators are ca... more Due to their high stiffness, small dimensions, and low mass, piezoelectric stack actuators are capable of developing large displacements over bandwidths of greater than 100 kHz. However, due to their large electrical capacitance, the associated driving amplifier is usually limited in bandwidth to a few kilohertz or less. In this paper the limiting characteristics of piezoelectric drives are identified as the small-signal bandwidth, output impedance, cable inductance, and power dissipation. A new dual amplifier is introduced that exhibits a small-signal bandwidth of 2 MHz with a 100 nF capacitive load. The dual amplifier is comprised of a standard high-voltage amplifier combined with a fast low-voltage amplifier to improve performance at higher frequencies. Experiments demonstrate a 300 kHz sine wave of 20 Vp-p amplitude being applied to a 100 nF load with negligible phase delay and a peak-to-peak current of 3.8 A. With a voltage range of 200 V and peak current of 1.9 A a standard amplifier would require a worst-case power dissipation of 380 W. However, the dual-amplifier arrangement has a worst-case power dissipation of only 30 W. The penalty is reduced range at high frequencies and slower operation from the high-voltage stage.

The Review of scientific instruments, 2012

This Note describes a new technique for estimating the resolution of nanopositioning systems. By ... more This Note describes a new technique for estimating the resolution of nanopositioning systems. By recording the voltage applied to an actuator and performing a filtering operation, the position noise and resolution can be estimated. This technique is simple to apply in practice and does not require any additional sensors or specialized equipment.

The Review of scientific instruments, 2010

Many forms of scanning probe microscopy require a piezoelectric actuator to vary the probe-sample... more Many forms of scanning probe microscopy require a piezoelectric actuator to vary the probe-sample distance. Examples include constant-force atomic force microscopy and constant-current scanning tunneling microscopy. In such modes, the topography of the sample is reconstructed from the voltage applied to the vertical piezoelectric actuator. However, piezoelectric actuators exhibit significant hysteresis which can produce up to 14% uncertainty in the reproduced topography. In this work, a charge drive is used to linearize the vertical piezoelectric actuator which reduces the error from 14% to 0.65%.

The Review of scientific instruments, 2011

The mechanical design of a high-bandwidth, short-range vertical positioning stage is described fo... more The mechanical design of a high-bandwidth, short-range vertical positioning stage is described for integration with a commercial scanning probe microscope (SPM) for dual-stage actuation to significantly improve scanning performance. The vertical motion of the sample platform is driven by a stiff and compact piezo-stack actuator and guided by a novel circular flexure to minimize undesirable mechanical resonances that can limit the performance of the vertical feedback control loop. Finite element analysis is performed to study the key issues that affect performance. To relax the need for properly securing the stage to a working surface, such as a laboratory workbench, an inertial cancellation scheme is utilized. The measured dominant unloaded mechanical resonance of a prototype stage is above 150 kHz and the travel range is approximately 1.56 μm. The high-bandwidth stage is experimentally evaluated with a basic commercial SPM, and results show over 25-times improvement in the scanning performance.

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