The Influence of Porosity on the Dynamic Characteristics of Porous Air Bearings

Air bearings are a vital component to high tech machines and have been in widespread use since the 1960s. They provide near frictionless motion, have high stiffness and a near infinite lifetime. When looking at existing literature the influence of the porosity on the dynamic characteristics has not been researched in depth. Especially when...

Development and prototype of a textured nanoimprinted air bearing system

Silicon wafers and solar cells are delicate components used in the semiconductor industries and energy industries. Handling and transportation can easily damage these components. Conventional handling methods with mechanical contact can cause various damages to these delicate surfaces. Air bearings can provide a solution by enabling an almost...

Air-based contactless wafer precision positioning system: Contactless sensing using charge coupled devices

This paper presents the development of a contactless sensing system and the dynamic evaluation of an air-bearing based precision wafer positioning system. The contactless positioning stage is a response to the trend seen in the high-tech industry, where the substrates are becoming thinner and larger to reduce the cost and increase the yield....

Air-Based Contactless Wafer Precision Positioning System

This paper presents the development of a contactless sensing system and the dynamic evaluation of an air-bearing-based precision wafer positioning system. The contactless positioning stage is a response to the trend seen in the high-tech industry, where the substrates are becoming thinner and larger to reduce the cost and increase the yield....

Design of a passive alternative for long stroke linear aerostatic stages based on ferrofluid bearings

The objective of this research is to demonstrate the capability of a long stroke linear ferrofluid (FF) stage. This stage is a passive alternative to existing linear aerostatic stages and can be used in low loaded CNC devices, pick and place machines, microscopy or scanner applications. To compete with aerostatic stages the bearing must be...

Design considerations for ferrofluid pressure bearing pads

The novel contribution of this research is insight into the influence of different parameters in the magnet configurations on the load and stiffness of a ferrofluid pressure bearing. It is shown that magnets with a small cross-section magnetized alternatively up and downwards combine a high load capacity and moderate stiffness while being low...

Contactless positioning of thin flexible substrates: Demonstrator design and validation of opposed air film actuators

In the industry motion systems with electric motors are used for transporting and positioning thin flexible substrates at high throughput rates. A possible alternative actuation solution could be to apply contactless air film actuators which make use of air bearing principles. The air film actuators use a thin film of air to levitate and propel...

Actuator System for the Flowerbed

In the electronics industry there is a trend towards the handling of larger and thinner sheets of silicon, for the production of wafers and solar cells. The flowerbed is a contact-less handler for these fragile substrates based on air bearing technology. By levitating the substrate on a film of pressurized air, mechanical contact is avoided and...

Development of an Air-Based Contactless Transport Demonstrator

In many industries, for example the semi-conductor and solar cell industry, production processes have to handle thin substrates such as wafers or solar cells. For economic reasons, the thickness of these substrates shows a decreasing trend over the years. This results in an increasing breakage rate of the substrates during the production process...

Air-based contactless positioning of thin substrates: Exploring the outlet restriction variation concept

A new concept in the field of air-based contactless positioning has been explored. The concept is based on the variation of the outlet restriction of an actuator, which controls a net air flow starting from the inlet. The object to be positioned ‘floats’ on a thin air film with a thickness in the order of tens of micrometres. Since the film...

Control System Design for a Contactless Actuation System

Industry pushes towards ever faster and more accurate production of thin substrates. Contactless positioning offers advantages, especially in terms of risk of breakage and contamination. A system is considered designed for contactless positioning by floating a silicon wafer on a thin film of air. This paper focuses on the design of a control...

Design and experimental validation of low stiffness aerostatic thrust bearings

Linear aerostatic bearings are frequently used in high precision stages for their advantageous bearing properties, with low friction and absence of stick-slip being most notable. To improve relatively low out-of-plane stiffness of air bearings, pre-loading is applied. A common method of pre-loading is by utilizing vacuum, where a constant vacuum...

Contactless Positioning using an Active Air Film

In the production of integrated circuits, solar cells, flat panel displays and elec- tronics, thin plates are often used as a base for manufacturing. Examples are silicon wafers and glass panels on which several process steps build transistors, pixels and interconnects. To improve the production throughput these features are made smaller while...

An experimental investigation of skin friction on smooth surfaces supporting air bearing channels

A new method, to obtain skin friction reduction by installing airbearing channels on a smooth surface in uniform flow was investigated. The measurements were made by a servo-controlled skin friction balance. The parametric studies of the channel having step dimensions less than the laminar sublayer thicknesses and placed in flows of free stream...