Our goal in creating Datum was to provide our customers with accuracy and throughput needed for today’s most demanding applications as well as the ability to stay-ahead of tomorrow’s challenges. DynamYX Datum finds its heritage in the DynamYX 300 and GT stages where a simple three-piece architecture and designed-in precision have been satisfying demanding applications for the past ten years. A decade’s worth of technological advancement brings to Datum a new, dynamically symmetric architecture constructed of a next-generation ceramic material with all-new micro-structure air bearings that, as in all Newport air bearing stages are directly machined in to the structure providing low-profile monolithic stage elements.

When extreme XY accuracy is required, linear encoders may be replaced with a two (XY) or three (theta) axis interferometer system. By combining Newport’s expertise in ceramics and optical surface finishing we are able to provide a cleanly integrated interferometer mirror solution with excellent surface quality and dynamic characteristics. As in the case of the ceramic chuck, these ceramic mirrors may be directly mounted to the either the XY carriage or chuck itself eliminating the complexity and instability of kinematic (or other) mirror mounting techniques. Newport’s proprietary optical replication process offers a cost effective approach over traditional lapping methods for applications which require performance that cannot be achieved with linear encoders.

Full throughput performance of the DynamYX Datum stage is realized when configured with a ceramic chuck. Ceramic chucks offer lower mass and improved flatness compared with metallic designs. An added benefit of using a ceramic chuck on a DynamYX stage is that the thermal expansion coefficients of the chuck and stage are matched which allows for the chuck to be directly mounted to the XY carriage. This direct mounting provides for the flattest and most thermally stable wafer surface possible in a single plane stage architecture.

Compared to previous stage generations, the main ceramic guide in the Datum stage has been re-designed to provide higher structural rigidity and increased load capacity. The result is a structure with a much higher natural frequency and a clean and repeatable transfer function providing exceptional servo bandwidth with identical tuning from stage-to-stage. This new ceramic guide along with the redesigned XY carriage are made from a new SiC ceramic material that is 1.5 times stiffer and 5 times more stable than the materials used in our other stage designs. The increased strength of this new ceramic is a primary factor in the new stage’s improved acceleration and transfer function performance while the material stability allows for tighter repeatability and accuracy characteristics.