KR101076950B1 - Flat surface stage apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a planar stage device which can maintain a planar stage surface in a high precision plane without using a heavy platen, which is light in weight and low in manufacturing cost.

The flat plate 1 on which the work is placed is supported by three or more places with the support member 10. Moreover, the drive mechanism which moves this flat plate 1 to an XY axis direction is provided. The support member 10 includes an air bearing disposed to face the flat plate 1, and lifts the flat plate 1 by the support member 10, and at the same time, the flat plate ( 1) is displaced by arbitrary thrust in the direction orthogonal to the plane of this flat plate 1. Then, the displacement state of the plane plate is maintained in the selected displacement state, and the plane on which the workpiece of the plane plate is placed is kept horizontal and plane.

Description

Planar Stage Unit {FLAT SURFACE STAGE APPARATUS}

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 (side view) showing the configuration of a planar stage of a first embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a diagram (top view) showing the configuration of the planar stage of the first embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a view showing the configuration of a supporting member of an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a view showing an example of a gap preload curve of an air bearing;

5 is a view for explaining the operation when the plane degree of the base plate is not shown;

6 shows a poser and platen of a second embodiment of the present invention;

7 is a view showing a cross-sectional configuration of a pad having a poser;

8 is a view illustrating an operation principle of moving the poser;

9 is a view showing a schematic configuration of a conventional stage which floats and moves by air.

 <Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

1: flat plate 1a: flat compensation plate

10, 10 ': support member 11: air bearing

11a: Pad (Air Jet) 1 lb: Rotary Bearing

12: middle zone 13: fixed disk

14: spring 15: air cylinder

15a: shaft 16a: pad

16b: air lock mechanism 17: poser (moveer)

17a: permanent magnets 17b to 17e: magnetic poles

17f, 17g: coil 17h: air blowing hole

20: base plate 31, 32: X axis moving indictment

33: Y axis movement indictment

The present invention relates to a plane stage device for moving a plane plate on which a work or the like is placed in the XY direction.

As an XY plane stage apparatus which moves a flat plate in XY direction (two-axis direction orthogonal to the plane parallel to the surface of a flat plate), the thing of patent document 1 is known, for example.

Such a stage is used as a work stage of an exposure apparatus, for example. In recent years, a liquid crystal panel and a printed circuit board are enlarged year by year, and with this, the work stage of the exposure apparatus which exposes these is also enlarged.

The flat stage which adsorb | sucks a workpiece | work of an XY flat stage is one metal plate processed with high precision. When it becomes large, the weight increases by that much, and when it moves to XY direction by alignment etc., it is necessary to apply a big force.

Even if a planar stage becomes large and weight increases, what was described in patent document 2 is known as a stage moved with a small force, for example. In FIG. 4, there is shown a structure in which the flat stage is floated and moved by air.

9, the schematic structure of the stage which floats and moves with air is shown.

Three or more air bearings 101 are attached to the planar stage 100 on which the work W is placed, and the surface W rises and moves on the surface plate 102 processed precisely.

As the movement mechanism of the planar stage, for example, the one in which two X-axis moving elements and one Y-axis moving element as shown in the patent document 1 is mounted on the plane stage 100 is used.

Moreover, as a drive mechanism of a planar stage, for example, the surface motor stage (also called a Sawyer motor stage) described in patent document 3 is known, It is also considered to use a surface motor as a drive mechanism of the stage shown in FIG.

The surface motor stage is composed of a flat platen provided with ferromagnetic convex poles in a checkerboard grid shape or a stripe shape, and a moving body (poser) which is floated by air or the like, and generates a moving magnetic field in the moving body. To move on the platen.

In the case of applying the surface motor in FIG. 9, the platen is installed on the surface plate 102, and the movable body is mounted on the rear surface of the flat surface 100.

[Patent Document 1 Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-25163]

[Patent Document 2 Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-32129]

[Patent Document 3 Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 9-23689]

The stage device shown in FIG. 9 has the following problems.

(1) Not only the surface of the flat stage on which the work is placed, but also the surface of the surface plate should be processed with high plane accuracy. In the case shown in Fig. 9, the plane stage is lifted by the air bearing to move the surface plate, and when the surface degree of the surface surface is low, the plane stage is inclined or moves up and down. For this reason, the surface of a surface plate must also be processed with high plane precision.

(2) As described above, it is necessary to keep the surface of the surface plate flat with high accuracy, but the mounting surface of the surface plate and finally, the bottom surface of the plant where the flat stage is placed is not necessarily flat. Therefore, even when the surface of the surface plate is processed with high plane accuracy, when the surface plate has low rigidity, when the surface plate is provided, the surface plate will bend and it will be difficult to maintain the surface in the plane with high accuracy. In other words, in order to maintain the surface of the surface plate in a high precision plane, it is necessary to increase the rigidity of the surface plate and the weight of the surface plate increases.

When using as a stage of the exposure apparatus of a liquid crystal panel and a printed board with a large workpiece size, weight may be 1t-10t, for example.

Therefore, the weight of the device becomes very heavy and the device cost also increases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object thereof is to maintain a flat stage surface flat with high precision, without using a heavy surface plate, to reduce the weight of the apparatus, and to produce a manufacturing cost. It is also to provide an inexpensive planar stage device.

The present invention solves the above problems as follows.

(1) A flat stage apparatus having a flat plate on which a work is placed, a supporting member for supporting the flat plate at three or more places, and a moving mechanism for moving the flat plate at least in parallel with the plane, wherein The support member is provided with an air bearing disposed to face the plane plate, and the support plate floats the plane plate, and the plane plate is displaced at any thrust in the direction orthogonal to the plane of the plane plate. . Then, the displacement state of the flat plate is maintained at the selected displacement state, and the plane on which the workpiece of the flat plate is adsorbed and fixed is kept horizontal and flat.

(2) The moving mechanism is convex in a mover having a magnetic pole for generating a moving magnetic field provided on the air bearing of the supporting member, and a checkerboard graduation shape or stripe shape provided on the rear surface of the flat plate to face the air bearing. It consists of the drive mechanism which consists of a flat platen with a pole arrange | positioned.

[Embodiment of the Invention]

1 and 2 are diagrams showing the configuration of the XY plane stage of the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a side cross-sectional view and FIG. 2 is a plan view.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 2, and FIG. 1 does not show an X-axis moving insulator and a Y-axis moving insulator, which are moving mechanisms for moving the flat plate of FIG. 2 in an orthogonal XY direction parallel to the plane. .

In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the flat plate 1 on which the work W is placed has a flat surface with high precision, and a vacuum suction groove 1a for adsorbing and holding the work W is formed. The size of the flat plate 1 is 2200 mm x 2600 mm x 300 mm, for example.

The flat plate 1 is supported by the support member 10 provided in three or more places with respect to the apparatus in which a flat stage is mounted, for example, the base plate 20 of an exposure apparatus. 1 and 2 show an example in which the flat plate 1 is supported by the support members 10 provided at six locations, and the number of the support members 10 depends on the size of the flat plate 1 or the like. Set it appropriately.

An air bearing 11 is provided above the support member 10. Moreover, in the part which opposes the air bearing 11 on the back surface of the flat plate 1, the flat compensation plate 1a with a flat surface is attached in order to prevent the air blown out from the air bearing 11 to leak. The flat plate 1 floats by the air which blows off from the air bearing 11.

Then, the flat plate 1 is moved in the XY direction by the X-axis moving instructors 31 and 32 and the Y-axis moving instructor 33 shown in FIG. 2.

For example, by simultaneously driving the same amount of X-axis driving instructors 31 and 32 in the same direction, the planar stage 1 can be moved in the X-direction (the longitudinal direction in FIG. 2), and the Y-axis driving instructor 33 ), The planar stage 1 can be moved in the Y direction (lateral direction in FIG. 2).

In addition, by varying the movement amounts of the two X-axis driving instructors 31 and 32 and driving the Y-axis driving instructor 33 accordingly, the flat plate 1 is circumferentially orthogonal to the plane perpendicular to the flat plate 1. It can rotate by the required angle and can perform positioning in (theta) direction.

3, the structure of the support member 10 is shown. The figure is a sectional view.

An air cylinder 15 is installed on the base plate 20 of the device. By changing the pressure of the air to supply, the air cylinder 15 will move the shaft 15a by arbitrary thrust.

The shaft 15a of the air cylinder 15 is connected to the intermediate stand 12, and a spring 14 is provided between the air cylinder 15 and the intermediate stand 12.

The fixed disk 13 (for example, leaf spring) extends downwards on both sides of the intermediate | middle stand 12, and the pad 16a for fixing the fixed disk 13 to both sides of the fixed disk 13 is provided. ) Is installed, and the pad 16a is driven by the air lock mechanism 16b.

When air is supplied to the air lock mechanism 16b, the pad 16a moves in the direction indicated by the arrow in the drawing, and the fixed disk 13 is inserted to fix the upper and lower portions of the shaft 15a of the air cylinder 15. The position of the direction is fixed.

The air bearing 11 is provided in the upper part of the intermediate | middle stand 12. As shown in FIG. As the air bearing 11, a commercially available one equipped with a pad 11a (called an air ejecting portion) through which air is ejected from a surface provided with a porous orifice is used.

The pad 11a of the air bearing 11 is attached to the intermediate stand 12 via the rotary bearing 11b so that the angular displacement can be freely moved.

Next, the procedure for installing the XY plane stage apparatus of the present embodiment will be described.

First, the number of support members 10 is determined. Since the supporting member 10 positions each part of the flat plate 1 in a height direction so that the surface of the flat plate 1 may become a plane, at least three are required.

The set value of the air gap between the surface of the air blowing part 11a of the support member 10 and the back surface of the flat plate 1 put on it is determined. As for the setting value of an air gap, the surface roughness x 10 times of the back surface of the flat plate 1 which opposes the air blowing part 11a is standard. The planar compensating plate 1a on the back surface of the planar plate 1 is provided to compensate for this surface roughness.

The larger the air gap, the smaller the allowable load that the air bearing 11 can hold. The change in allowable underweight is approximately inversely related to the change in the size of the gap. It is standard that the set value of the gap is designed in a region where the gap is large and does not change with respect to the change in the allowable load (that is, a region with high rigidity), and the gap is generally about 5 to 10 탆.

Moreover, the pressure of the air supplied to the air blowing part 11a is determined. The air pressure is the standard × 0.7 times the pressure of the utility supplied to the device.

Since the weight (loading weight) of the flat plate 1 mounted on the support member 10 is known in advance, the gap preload curve (by each air bearing) of the air bearing 11 attached to the support member 10 is known. From the curve determined), the amount of preload (allowable load) is calculated.

 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a gap preload curve of the air bearing. The vertical axis in the figure is the size of the air gap, and the horizontal axis is the amount of preload (allowable load).

For example, at an air pressure of 4.1 kg / cm 2, a load of about 20 N (Newtons) is allowed for a gap of 10 μm, and a load of about 40 N is allowed for an air pressure of 5.5 kg / cm 2.

When the loading weight (weight of the flat plate 1) is divided by the allowable load obtained above, the number of the supporting members 10 is obtained. However, even if the number of support members is three or less in calculation, the support members 10 shall be three.

Here, the thrust to apply to the air cylinder 15 of each support member 10 needs to be set to the magnitude | size so that the surface of the flat plate 1 may be horizontal and remain flat, for example, a flat plate When the surface of (1) is processed to a flat surface with high precision, the thrust force applied to the air cylinder 15 is made the "thrust which cancels self-weight bending", and the flat plate 1 on the support member 10 is carried out. When is placed, the surface of the flat plate 1 is kept horizontal and flat.

Although "thrust as much as canceling the bending by self weight" actually requires a strict design, it can be explained as follows.

For example, in the case of supporting a 60 kg flat plate by six supporting members, ideally, 10 kg of 60 kg ÷ 6 = 10 kg becomes "thrust as much as canceling the bending by self weight".

As a method of calculating "thrust as much as canceling the bending by own weight", the method of calculating the gravity applied to each support member 10 by simulation using analysis software is considered. That is, based on the size and weight of the flat plate 1, and the position of the support member 10, the gravity applied to each support member 10 is calculated using a computer or the like.

For example, the number of the support members 10 is six, and the gravity applied to each support member 10 obtained by calculation is 24.7 kg, 21.6 kg, 24.7 kg, 24.6 kg, 21.6 kg, 24.6, for example. It is said to be kg.

Air is supplied to the air cylinder 15 of the support member 10 so that thrust (holding force) equivalent to gravity applied to the position where the support member 10 is installed is obtained.

The pressure of air is adjusted by the regulator (not shown) provided in the air piping connected to each support member 10.

Since the thrust (holding force) is uniformly determined with respect to the air pressure to supply the air cylinder 15, when the gravity applied to the target support member 10 is 24.7 kg, the thrust (holding force) of 24.7 kg will be applied to the cylinder. The pressure obtained is applied, and if gravity is 21.6 kg, the pressure at which 21.6 kg of thrust (holding force) is obtained is applied.

Next, the flat plate 1 is placed on the supporting member 10 in accordance with the position of the flat compensating plate 1a and the air ejecting portion 11a, and the air having the pressure set as described above is loaded into each supporting member ( It supplies to the air blowing part 11a and the air cylinder 15 of 10), and blows air from the air blowing part 11a, and raises the shaft 15a. And the air lock mechanism 16b is operated in the state in which the thrust force which cancels the bending by the weight of the flat plate 1 by the air cylinder 15 of each support member 10 is applied to the flat plate 1, The fixed disk 16a is inserted by the pad 16a, and the position of the height direction of the shaft 15a of each support member 10 is fixed.

Thereby, each support member 10 will be in the state to which the force according to the own weight in each support member position of the flat plate 1 was applied, and if the surface of the flat plate 1 was processed with high precision, a flat plate The surface of (1) is kept horizontal and flat.

By adopting such a configuration, even if the plane degree of the base plate 20 of the apparatus for mounting the support member 10 is not sufficiently drawn as shown in FIG. 5, the shaft of the air cylinder 15 ( Since 15a) stretches and maintains thrust, the surface of the flat plate 1 can be kept horizontal and flat.

In this state, the flat plate 1 is compensated for the plane provided against the pad of the air cylinder 11 by driving the X-axis moving instructors 31 and 32 and the Y-axis moving instructor 33 shown in FIG. In the range of a plate, it moves in the biaxial direction orthogonal to the plane of the planar plate 1, and the XY and (theta) directions which are the rotation directions around the axis parallel to the plane. The flat plate 1 is floated by air, and moves smoothly even with a small force even in large size.

 Here, when the moving amount of the flat plate 1 is large, the height of the supporting member 10 is changed in accordance with the surface precision of the back surface of the flat plate 1 in order to maintain the flatness and the flatness of the flat plate 1 after the movement. Although the need arises, the movement amount of the flat plate 1 in the stage apparatus of this invention is less than +/- 10 mm, and the magnitude | size of the flat compensation plate 1a attached to the back surface of the flat plate 1 is also this much.

If the back surface side of the flat plate 1 is processed to some extent, and if the amount of movement is the above, the relative deviation of the mounting angle with respect to the horizontal plane of the flat compensation plate 1a will be about 0.2 degrees, If the surface of the compensating plate 1a is processed with high precision, even if the flat plate 1 moves, the displacement of the horizontal plate 1 in the height direction (Z-axis direction) does not become a problem.

In addition, when processing the surface of the flat plate 1 to a planar shape, it is also possible to process the surface into a planar shape in the state which supported the flat plate 1 by the support member in multiple places.

When the surface of the flat plate 1 is supported in a plurality of places in this manner and processed into a flat shape, when the flat plate is used as a stage, the support member 10 is placed at the same position as the support member supported at the time of processing. It arrange | positions and sets the thrust of each air cylinder 15 so that it may become the thrust same as the thrust by the support member which supported the flat plate at the time of this process. In this way, the state which processed the surface of the flat plate 1 is reproduced, and in the apparatus mounted, the flat plate 1 can be hold | maintained with the plane precision at the time of a process.

In the above embodiment, the case where the X-axis moving element and the Y-axis moving element are used as the drive mechanism of the flat plate is described. Next, a second embodiment of the present invention using a Sawyer motor as the drive mechanism will be described.

As described in Patent Document 3, the Sawyer motor stage (surface motor stage) is a movable body (hereinafter referred to as a poser) that generates a moving magnetic field on a flat platen in which a convex pole of ferromagnetic material is provided in a checkerboard grid shape or a stripe shape. To be moved).

In the configuration 1 of the stage device of the present embodiment, the flat plate 1 is supported at a plurality of points or more by three or more points by a support member using an air bearing, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Three of the support members are selected, and the above-described poser is provided on the pads (air jetting portions) 11a of the three support members. Moreover, the part which opposes the air blowing part which provided the poser of the back surface of the flat plate 1 is made into a flat platen.

Fig. 6 shows a supporting member 10 'having a poser 17 having the air blowing section, and a flat plate 1 whose opposing portions on the back face are platens. 7 is a sectional view of the pad 11a having the poser 17.

As shown in FIG. 7, the permanent magnet 17a is attached to the poser 17. As a result, magnetic poles of N or S are generated in the magnetic poles 17b to 17e.

The coils 17f and 17g are wound around the magnetic poles 17b to 17e. When the current flows, the magnetic poles 17b to 17e become electromagnets. If the magnetic field produced by the permanent magnet 17a and the magnetic field produced by the electromagnet are the same, the magnetic force is reinforced. If the magnetic field produced by the permanent magnet 17a and the magnetic field produced by the electromagnet are opposite, the magnetic force is canceled.

As shown in FIG. 7, a hole 17h through which air is ejected is provided in the pad (air ejection portion) 11a on which the poser 17 is provided. Keep it. In addition, although the hole which blows out air is provided in the circumference | surroundings of a poser in FIG. 7, you may make it blow out air from the center vicinity of a poser.

As shown in FIG. 6, the platen 1a is embedded on the rear surface side of the flat plate 1 in correspondence with the pad (air ejecting portion) 11a provided with the poser 17, and the convex pole P of the ferromagnetic material is embedded. ) Are arranged in a checkerboard grid shape or stripe shape in an arrangement in accordance with the moving direction of the flat plate, and a nonmagnetic material is embedded between the convex pole and the convex pole.

Hereinafter, the operation principle in which the flat plate 1 moves to the left in the drawing with respect to the poser 17 will be described. Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the platen 1a having a plurality of convex poles constituting the planar stage and the poler 17 having magnetic poles, which are wound around the respective coils 17f and 17g wound on the magnetic poles 17b to 17e. A moving magnetic field is generated by flowing a current from the driver circuit (not shown) in the following order, and the platen 1a (flat plate 1) moves with respect to the poser 17 on the left side of the figure.

(1) STEP 1: A current flows through the coil 17f on the magnetic poles 17b and 17c of the poser 17 so as to reinforce the magnetic force of the magnetic pole 17b. No current flows through the coil 17g of the magnetic poles 17d and 17e. Since the magnetic force is reinforced, the magnetic pole 17b is strongly pulled from each other with the convex pole P1 of the platen 1a, and the magnetic pole 17b and the convex pole P1 are at opposite positions.

The magnetic pole 17c cancels the magnetic force and is located on the nonmagnetic material between the convex poles P2 and P3. The magnetic poles 17d and 17e are mutually pulled with the convex poles P4 and P6 in the oblique direction, respectively.

(2) STEP 2: The current of the coil 17f of the magnetic poles 17b and 17c is stopped, and an electric current is sent to the coil 17g on the magnetic poles 17d and 17e to reinforce the magnetic force of the magnetic pole 17e. The magnetic pole 17e strongly pulls each other with the convex pole P6, and the magnetic pole 17d cancels the magnetic force so that the magnetic pole 17d does not pull with the convex pole P4.

Therefore, the platen 1a moves in the left direction in the same drawing with respect to the poser 17 so that the magnetic pole 17e faces the convex pole P6. The magnetic poles 17b and 17c are mutually pulled with the convex poles P1 and P3 in the oblique direction, respectively.

(3) STEP 3: The current of the coil 17g of the magnetic poles 17d and 17e is stopped, and a current flows to the coil 17f of the magnetic poles 17b and 17c so as to reinforce the magnetic force of the magnetic pole 17c. send. The magnetic poles 17c are strongly attracted to the convex poles P3, and the magnetic poles 17b cancel their magnetic forces, so that they are not attracted to the convex poles P1.

The platen 1a moves in the left direction of the drawing with respect to the poser 17 so that the magnetic pole 17c faces the convex pole P3.

(4) STEP 4: The current of the coil 17f of the magnetic poles 17b and 17c is stopped, and an electric current is sent to the coil 17g on the magnetic poles 17d and 17e to reinforce the magnetic force of the magnetic pole 17d. The magnetic poles 17d are strongly attracted to the convex poles 15, and the magnetic poles 17e cancel the magnetic force and are not pulled to the convex poles P6. The platen 1a moves in the left direction in the same drawing with respect to the poser 17 so that the magnetic pole 17d faces the convex pole P5.

In addition, after moving to the position of STEP 4, as shown in STEP 4, by continuing to flow an electric current through the coil 17g, the poser 17 can be hold | maintained at the position of STEP4.

Of the three support members 10 ′ in which the poser 17 is provided, the poser 17 provided on the two support members has a magnetic pole 17b arranged in the X-axis direction as shown in FIG. In the poser provided in one support member, as shown in FIG. 6B, the magnetic poles 17b are arranged in the Y-axis direction.

When the magnetic force of the magnetic pole 17b of the forger whose magnetic poles are arranged in the Y axis direction is changed as described above, the flat plate 1 moves in the Y axis direction. When the magnetic forces of the magnetic poles 17b of the two positioners in which the magnetic poles are arranged in the X-axis direction are changed in the same manner on both sides, the flat plate 1 moves in the X-axis direction. When the magnetic forces of the magnetic poles 17b of the two positioners in which the magnetic poles are arranged in the X-axis direction are changed in opposite directions, the flat plate 1 moves in the X-axis direction. When the magnetic forces of the magnetic poles 17b of the two posers in which the magnetic poles are arranged in the X-axis direction are changed in opposite directions, the flat plate 1 rotates (theta moves) around an axis orthogonal to the XY plane.

The order of installing the stage device of the present embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the flat plate 1 is provided on the support member 10 including the three support members 10 'having the poser 17. The thrust force which cancels the bending by self weight is provided, and the thrust plate which raises the flat plate 1 on the support member 10, floats by air, and cancels the bending by the self weight of the flat plate 1 is the flat plate 1 ), The air lock mechanism 16b is operated to insert the fixed disk 16a into the pad 16a, and the position in the height direction of each support member 10 is fixed.

Accordingly, each support member 10 is in a state where a force corresponding to its own weight at each support position of the flat plate 1 is applied, and if the surface of the flat plate 1 is processed with high precision, the flat plate ( The surface of 1) is kept horizontal and flat.

In this state, as described above, the magnetic force of the magnetic pole of the poser is changed to move the flat plate 1 in the XYθ direction. The flat plate 1 is floated by air, and moves smoothly even with a small force even if large.

In addition, although the platen side does not move and the poser side moves in the normal Sawyer motor stage, the relationship is reversed in this embodiment, and the plater side does not move fixedly and the platen side moves.

As in the present embodiment, by using the Sawyer motor as the drive mechanism, the mechanical XYθ driving mechanism for moving the flat plate is unnecessary, and the structure of the stage is simplified. In addition, the number of parts is reduced, the assembly is facilitated, and the cost of the device can be reduced. It is also possible to eliminate the wear of the mechanical parts accompanying the operation of the drive mechanism and the generation of dust.

In the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) Since the flat plate is allowed to be displaced by arbitrary thrust in the direction orthogonal to the plane of the flat plate by the support member, the surface of the flat plate is horizontal and flat without using a surface plate having high flatness accuracy. Can be maintained and the surface plate becomes unnecessary, so that the weight of the device can be reduced.

(2) Since the surface is unnecessary and the surface which needs to be processed with high plane precision consists only of the surface of the flat plate on which a workpiece is placed, the apparatus cost is low.

(3) Since the flat plate is configured to float by air, the flat plate can be moved with a small force.

(4) Mechanical XYθ by using a Sawyer motor comprising a mover having a magnetic pole for generating a moving magnetic field and a planar platen having convex poles arranged in a checkerboard grid shape or stripe shape as drive means for the flat plate. The drive mechanism becomes unnecessary, and the structure of a stage can be simplified. In addition, the number of parts is reduced, so that assembly is easy and the cost of the device can be reduced. It is also possible to eliminate the wear of the mechanical parts accompanying the operation of the drive mechanism and the generation of dust.

Claims (2)

The flat plate on which the work is placed, Support member which supports this flat plate at three places or more, In the flat stage apparatus provided with the moving mechanism which moves the said flat plate at least in parallel with this plane, The support member includes an air cylinder in which the shaft moves up and down at an arbitrary thrust, and an air lock mechanism for fixing a position in the vertical direction of the shaft. An upper part of the support member is provided with an air bearing disposed to face the flat plate, The support member displaces the flat plate at any thrust in a direction orthogonal to the plane of the flat plate by moving the shaft up and down at an arbitrary thrust, and the air lock mechanism causes the shaft to move. Planar stage device, characterized in that to maintain the selected displacement state of the air bearing by fixing the position of the up and down direction. The method according to claim 1, The moving mechanism, A mover having magnetic poles for generating a moving magnetic field provided on the air bearing of the support member, and a planar plate having convex poles arranged on a back surface of the flat plate in a checkerboard grid shape or stripe shape provided opposite the air bearing. A flat stage device comprising a drive mechanism composed of a tongue.

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