MCS2 Stick-Slip Piezo Drive Technology

Stick-Slip Piezo Drivers for MCS2

The MCS2 control systems for SmarSlide stick-slip piezo driven stages are available in rack and tabletop housing. In its basic configuration, the stick-slip piezo controller consists of a 3-channel main controller module and an USB or Ethernet communication interface. For 3-channel controllers, a hand control module may be integrated into the controller. Other configurations also feature analog and digital I/O modules or EtherCAT® interface options. Single systems with up to 18 channels can be built using the rack controller variant. Building a mixed system with stick-slip piezo, scanner piezo and electromagnetic driven stages is possible as well. 

To increase the functionality of MCS2 control system even further and to adapt driving parameters of the connected piezo stages to the application, SmarAct has developed several firmware modules and features. Some of them are enabled by default in every MCS2 controller, others are available as options. 

• Sensor Power Save Mode
  This firmware feature is particularly interesting for stages that are going to be used in vacuum environments. The mode changes the duty cycle of the position sensors LED when the stage is an idle state and not moving. This reduces the heat dissipation of the position sensor and the overall heat load on the stage and the positioning system significantly. 
• Quiet Mode
  The quiet mode firmware feature was especially developed for life science applications. This mode shifts the driving frequency of the piezo drive out of the human hearing range. 
• Zero-Voltage Mode
  This firmware feature affects the control loop to ensure that the drive voltage is controlled to zero volts after each stick-slip movement while the target position is held. This feature is of particular interest for stages used in scanning electron microscopy systems or experiments with low energy electrons or ions. 
• Low-Vibration Mode (Optional)
  The low-vibration mode firmware module was especially developed for ultra-high precision applications like scanning probe microscopy and life science experiments. This algorithm reduces the vibrations which inevitably occur by the stick-slip driving principle. The result is a smooth motion which enables the usage of our stick-slip piezo stages even for most demanding applications. 
• Advanced Sensor Calibration (Optional)
  SmarAct stages and systems can be equipped with integrated optical position sensors. These are based on optical incremental encoders, which interpolate between stripes on a sensor scale. This sometimes leads to a small periodic interpolation error, with a periodicity matching the grating pattern of the sensor scale, i. e. the spacing between the stripes. This error affects the absolute accuracy of the stages but not the repeatability. The advanced sensor calibration firmware module reduces these periodic errors significantly. This patented feature is especially interesting for applications where absolute accuracy is crucial. These include for example high-precision scanning and stitching of microscopy images.