In wafer scanners - the machines that define the details of electronic chips - there is a need for highly accurate deformation measurements of the machine components during the chip manufacturing process.
This thesis develops an estimation methodology, based on shape fitting principles, that aims at a low estimation error and addresses the specific requirements related to one of the components of a wafer scanner, the wafer chuck.

Sensor positioning is critical for achieving a measurement accuracy in the picometre range with capacitive displacement sensors. This thesis discusses the contradictory requirements that the sensor alignment application imposes: motion capability combined with extreme displacement stability. In addition, it explores three micrometre scale positioning methods that do not compromise the position stability. All three positioning methods use the properties of friction contacts to achieve the combination of stability and position ability.

The relative importance of thermal errors in precision machines has increased in recent years. The requirements on precision machines such as higher precision and higher productivity become more stringent over product generations. Improved precision of precision machines has increased the importance of thermal errors in precision machines. To increase the productivity of precision machines, more energy needs to be consumed in general, resulting in increased heat generation and thermal errors, and poorer precision performance. To further improve the precision of precision machines while achieving increased productivity at the same time, thermal errors in precision machines need to be studied and reduced further.