JPH10197802A - Stage - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a simply constituted inexpensive stage of high measuring accuracy by providing pressure members such as a 3rd guiding member for pressing a 2nd guide and also a 2nd guiding member for pressing a 1st guide. SOLUTION: The roller (3rd guiding member) 20 comes into contact with the 2nd guide 6 by the spring compressing force of a spring member 22. A block part 11 is pressed so as to be separated from the 2nd guide 6, and the rollers (2nd guiding members) 16-19 are pressurized by the 1st guide 5 through pivots 12 and 13 and roller receivers 14 and 15. When an upper plate is relatively moved in a guide direction B to a lower plate 1, the upper plate is accurately moved with a light driving force in accordance with the rolling of plural needle- like rollers 10 held between the lower plate 1 and the upper plate. The horizontal shift is suppressed by the 1st guide 5 and the 2nd guide 6, then, the upper plate is moved by the light driving force in accordance with the rolling of the rollers 16-19 and the roller 20 through the block part 11 integrally formed with the upper plate.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an XY stage that can move in the XY directions in devices such as a measuring device and a projector for measuring dimensions and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional XY stage will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a side view of a conventional XY stage. The XY stage includes a lower plate 51 and an upper plate 52. The lower plate 51 has a V-shaped groove 53 on one side of its upper surface, and has a planar guide 54 on the other side parallel to the direction in which the V-shaped groove 53 extends. The upper plate 52 is
One side of the lower surface has a V-shaped convex portion 55 that can enter the V-shaped groove 53 of the lower plate 51, and the other side has a planar shape corresponding to the planar guide 54 of the lower plate 51. Guide 5
6. A groove-shaped guide is formed by the V-shaped groove 53 and the V-shaped protrusion 55, and a plane guide is formed by the plane guide 54 and the plane guide 56.

The inclined surface of the V-shaped groove 53 of the lower plate 51 and the upper plate 5
Needle bearings 57 are arranged between the two V-shaped convex portions 55 and the inclined surfaces and between the planar guides 54 and 56, respectively. The upper plate 52 is a lower plate 51
, Groove guides 53 and 55 and flat guides 54 and 5
By virtue of 6, the plate material is moved via the needle bearing 57 while its movement is restricted in the horizontal and vertical directions.

As described above, in the conventional XY stage shown in FIG. 5, the displacement of the upper plate 52 in the lateral direction of the plate is restricted by the two inclined surfaces of the groove guides 53 and 55, and the displacement in the vertical direction is controlled by the groove guides. Both slopes 53 and 55 and plane guide 5
4 and 56.

[0005]

However, in the conventional stage shown in FIG. 5, the V-shaped grooves 53 of the lower plate 51 and the V-shaped protrusions of the upper plate 52 for the groove-shaped guides 53, 55 for regulating the displacement of the plate material in the lateral direction. It is difficult to form the part 55 and the part 55 so as to match each other with high accuracy. Further, regarding the guide regarding the regulation of the displacement of the plate material in the vertical direction, the groove-shaped guide 53
It has been difficult to accurately adjust the parallelism between the two slopes 55 and the flat portions of the flat guides 54 and 56. For this reason,
Since the displacement of the plate material in the lateral direction and the displacement of the plate material in the vertical direction may not be accurately controlled, the movement accuracy of the stage may be deteriorated.

Further, a V-shaped groove 53 of the lower plate 51 and an upper plate 52
Each shape of the V-shaped convex portion 55 was difficult to process as compared with the planar shape, and the flatness of the groove-shaped guide was easily deteriorated. Therefore, when the stage is used for a measuring instrument, the pointing accuracy of the stage is likely to be deteriorated.

Further, the stage has a three-piece structure in which a middle plate is provided between the upper plate and the lower plate in FIG. 5, for example, the lower plate and the middle plate perform feed in the X-axis direction, and the middle plate and the upper plate are moved. When feeding in the Y-axis direction by the plate, the perpendicularity between the X-axis and the Y-axis of the stage is determined by the perpendicularity of the V-shaped groove and the V-shaped protrusion provided on the upper and lower surfaces of the middle plate. It is difficult to accurately process the perpendicularity between the V-shaped groove and the V-shaped protrusion, and the precision of the perpendicularity between the X-axis and the Y-axis tends to deteriorate.

[0008] The deterioration in accuracy as described above leads to deterioration in the measurement accuracy of the stage. If machining is performed with high accuracy to avoid this, the cost will increase.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the conventional stage, and to provide a stage which has a high measuring accuracy and a simple structure and can reduce the cost.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a first plate member and a second plate member which moves relative to the first plate member. A first parallel guide formed on the plane of the first plate member, and a second parallel guide formed on the plane of the second plate member so as to face the first parallel guide. A first guide member guided by the parallel guide, the first parallel guide, and the second parallel guide; and a first guide member inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the plane of the first plate member. A first guide, a second guide provided on the first plate member and provided substantially parallel to the first guide,
Located between the first guide and the second guide,
A block portion provided on the second plate member; and a second portion supported by the block portion and guided by the first guide.
And a third guide member supported by the block portion so as to face the second guide and guided by the second guide, and the third guide member is connected to the second guide. And a pressing member for pressing the second guide member and pressing the first guide.

In the second aspect, when the pressing member includes a spring member, the spring member may be configured to be interposed between the third guide member and the block portion.

According to a third aspect, the second guide also serves as the pressing member, and the second guide has a spring property in a direction of pressing the third guide member. In claim 4, the third guide member may be configured to include a plurality of balls.

When the stage has a three-plate structure,
The third plate member can be disposed between the first plate member and the second plate member, and the above-described first guide and second guide can be provided on the third plate member.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the plate thickness direction guide mechanism for regulating the displacement in the plate thickness direction is constituted by the plane of the first plate member and the second plate member, and is formed in the plate thickness direction. The guide mechanism that regulates the lateral displacement that is vertical
And a second guide substantially parallel to the first guide.

[0015] A first guide member is provided between the plane of the first plate member and the plane of the second plate member. A second guide member guided by a first guide formed on the first plate member and a third guide member guided by a second guide substantially parallel to the first guide include a pressing member. By the first
And the second guide are pressed. In this state, the second guide member is pressed against the first guide, and when the second plate member moves and the block moves, the first guide of the first plate member moves to the second guide supported by the block. , The lateral movement of the second plate member follows the first guide regardless of the second guide. For this reason, the second plate member can move relative to the first plate member while being restricted in the lateral direction without being affected by the second guide. On the other hand, in the thickness direction of the plate member, the displacement of the first plate member and the second plate member in the plate thickness direction in these planes is restricted by the plate thickness direction guide, so that the lateral movement of the plate member is restricted. Independently, the movement of the plate member in the plate thickness direction is controlled. Moreover, since a pair of plate thickness direction guides is provided, the movement in the plate thickness direction has no effect on the guide mechanism that regulates the lateral displacement of the plate member by the first guide and the second guide.

As described above, the lateral guide mechanism has the first
The guide can be configured with high accuracy simply by configuring
Further, since the plate thickness direction guide mechanism and the lateral direction guide mechanism can be configured independently of each other, it is not necessary to adjust the perpendicularity and the like of each other, and the processing becomes easier than the conventional one. As described above, it is possible to obtain a highly accurate and low-cost stage despite the simple processing.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the pressing member is formed of a spring member or a member having spring properties, the second guide member guided by the first guide and the second guide member are guided by the second guide. And a third guide member supported via the spring member or the spring member, the first and second guides are respectively applied to the first and second guides by a pressing force of a predetermined load capacity by the spring member or the spring member. Are in contact with each other to balance the force, so that the second plate member moves along the first guide with respect to the first plate member without using the second guide.

In the case where the stage is an XY stage having three components, the perpendicularity between the X direction and the Y direction is equal to one of the second guide members on the first guide side supported by the third plate member. The precision can be easily improved by changing the position of the position by adjustment.

[0019]

1 and 2 show a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a diagram for describing an XY stage according to the embodiment. FIG. 1 is a side view of the stage of the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of a main part of the guide taken along the line AA in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, a pair of guides 2 which are formed as flat guides with good parallelism as vertical guides, that is, plate thickness guides, are provided at two places on the upper surface of the lower plate 1 as a first member. , Guide 3 are provided. A first guide 5 for regulating the displacement in the left-right direction in FIG. 1 is formed on one side surface 4 of the lower plate 1 with good flatness. This first guide 5
Is formed at a predetermined angle (here, 90 °) with respect to the plane of the pair of guides 2 and 3.

The second guide 6 is formed in a substantially L-shape. An extension 6 'extends from one side surface 4 in a direction perpendicular to the side surface 4, and the second guide 6 is extended. , And extends substantially in parallel with the first guide 5 and faces the first guide 5.

Vertical guides (thickness direction guides) 8 and 9 are provided at two positions on the lower left and right sides of the upper plate 7 serving as the second member at positions facing the guides 2 and 3 of the lower plate 1 with good parallelism. Has been processed. Needle bearings are arranged as first guide members between the guides 2 and 8 and between the guides 3 and 9, respectively. This needle bearing includes a plurality of needle rollers 1 as shown in FIG.
0 and a retainer 10 ′ holding these needle rollers 10. A plurality of needle rollers 10 of the needle bearing are sandwiched between the lower plate 1 and the upper plate 7 by the weight of the upper plate 7.

As shown in FIG. 1, a block 11 is fixed to one end of the lower surface of the upper plate 7 so as to be inserted between the first guide 5 and the second guide 6. As shown in FIG. 2, on the side of the block portion 11 facing the first guide 5, a guide direction along the first guide 5 (arrow B in FIG. 2) is provided.
2) which are almost equally spaced from the center of the block portion 11
Pivots 12 and 13 are formed at two positions.

The pivots 12 and 13 of the block 11 are provided with roller receivers 14 and 15, respectively. The roller receivers 14 and 15 are provided with conical recesses 14a and 15a, respectively, and the block portion 11 opposed thereto is also provided with similar recesses 14b and 15b.
The pivots 12 and 13 described above are arranged between the axles 14a and 14b and between the recesses 15a and 15b and rotatably supported. Therefore, the roller receivers 14 and 15 can swing about the pivots 12 and 13, respectively.

Each roller receiver 14, 15 has two rollers 16, 17, and 1 as a second guide member.
8 and 19 are rotatably supported so as to face the first guide 5 on the side surface 4 of the lower plate 1.

On the side of the block portion 11 facing the second guide 6, a roller 20 is rotatably supported by a roller receiver 21 as a third guide member. Roller receiver 21
A spring member 22 is sandwiched between the and the block portion 11 in a compressed state.

In the above configuration, the roller 20 is in contact with the guide 6 in a state where a preload is applied by the spring compressing force of the spring member 22. As a result, the block portion 11 is pushed in a direction away from the second guide 6 by the compressive force of the spring member 22, and the pivots 12, 13 and the roller receiver 1 are pressed.
Rollers 16, 17 and rollers 18, 19 via 4, 15
Are in contact with each other while being balanced and pressed by the first guide 5.

In this state, when the upper plate 7 is relatively moved with respect to the lower plate 1 in the guide direction indicated by the arrow B in FIG. 2 by a driving means (not shown), the displacement in the plate thickness direction is caused by the guides 2, 3 8 and 9, limited by a pair of plate thickness direction guides,
Due to the rolling of the plurality of needle rollers 10 sandwiched between the lower plate 1 and the upper plate 7, the upper plate 7 can be moved with a small driving force with good motion accuracy of pitching.

On the other hand, the lateral displacement is limited by the first guide 5 and the second guide 6, and the rollers 16, which are sandwiched between the upper plate 7 and the respective blocks via the block portion 11 integrated with the upper plate 7,
Due to the rolling between the rollers 17, 18, 19 and the roller 20, the roller 20 can be moved with a light driving force due to a low frictional force. At this time, the rigidity between the block 11 and the first guide 5 is at least ten times greater than the rigidity between the block 11 and the second guide 6. Therefore, even if the degree of parallelism between the first guide 5 and the second guide 6 is poor, the upper plate 7 follows the guide 5 almost without changing the load capacity, which is the preload in the balanced state. Therefore, the movement of the upper plate 7 is hardly affected by the guide 6.

The rollers 16, 17 and the rollers 18, 1
9 are received by rotatable pivots 12 and 13, respectively, so that the first guide 5 does not have to be perpendicular to the thickness direction guides 2 and 3 so that the rollers 16, 17, 18 and 19 are the first.
Guide 5 can be directly opposed. Therefore, it is not necessary to form the first guide 5 accurately with respect to the perpendicularity to the plate thickness direction guides 2 and 3, so that a stage with high yaw (yaw) movement accuracy can be easily realized at low cost. Can be.

Further, in the case of an XY stage composed of three plate members, a perpendicularity between the X axis and the Y axis is required, but the block portion 11 is attached to a middle plate between the upper plate and the lower plate. A pair of roller receivers 14 supported by the block portion 11,
By pushing or pulling one of the 15 with the adjusting screw 23, the squareness of the X and Y axes can be easily adjusted. As shown in FIG. 2, the adjustment screw 23 can be provided on the block portion 11 at a position facing the roller receiver 15, for example.

In the above description, one roller 20 is provided on the side facing the second guide 6, but two rollers may be provided. In this case, the right angle can be adjusted by pushing and pulling one of the rollers on the guide 6 side.
Further, the spring material 2 between the roller receiver 21 and the block 11
Although a disc spring was used as 2, a coil spring or a leaf spring may be used. The spring compression force at this time is against the external force applied to the upper plate 7, and the rollers 16, 17, 18,
It is good to choose so that the rolling friction of 19 and 20 does not become too large.

Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a main part of a stage having substantially the same configuration as the stage of the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals. Is omitted.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the second guide 25
Is formed of a material having spring properties. Second guide 2
The roller receiver 21 that supports the roller 20 that is in contact with 5 does not need to be supported by a spring material, and a pivot 30 is provided between the block portion 11 and the roller receiver 21. The pivot 30 is provided with the recess 3 provided in the block portion 11.
0a and a recess 30b provided in the roller receiver 21 and are rotatably supported.

According to the second embodiment, the second guide 25 having a spring property pushes the roller 20 in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 3, and the roller receiver 21, the pivot 30, and the pivot 1
2 and 13 and each roller 1 via roller receivers 14 and 15
By pressing 6 to 19 against the first guide 5, the same operation and effect as those of the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 can be obtained.

The third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a main part of a stage having substantially the same configuration as the stage of the second embodiment shown in FIG. 3, and the same portions are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will be omitted. .

According to the third embodiment shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of balls 26 are rotatably provided between the second guide 25 having spring properties and the block portion 11 instead of the rollers 20. Have been. The plurality of balls 26 are attached to the holding plate member 2.
6 ′, while being rotatably held at 6 ′, a second spring
The guide 25 is pressed against the surface 11a of the block portion 11 in the direction of arrow C in FIG. As a result, similarly to the embodiment of FIG. 3, each of the rollers 16 to 19 is pressed against the first guide 5, whereby the first roller of FIGS.
The same operation and effect as those of the embodiment can be obtained.

In each of the embodiments, the first guide is formed on the side surface 4 of the lower plate 1, but the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, a groove may be formed in the center of the lower plate 1 and a first guide may be formed on a side surface of the groove. Further, an air bearing may be used instead of a roller or a needle bearing.

[0039]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the lateral guide can be formed with high accuracy only by forming the first guide with high accuracy. Since they can be configured independently, there is no need to adjust the perpendicularity or the like of each other, and processing is easier than in the conventional case. In this way, a low-cost stage can be obtained with a high measurement accuracy and a simple structure in spite of simple processing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a stage according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view taken along line AA of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a main part of a stage according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and is a view corresponding to FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a main part of a stage according to a third embodiment of the present invention, and is a view corresponding to FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a side view of a stage according to the related art.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 1 lower plate (first plate member) 2, 3 guide (first parallel guide) 8, 9 guide (second parallel guide) 2, 8, 3, 9 thickness direction guide 7 upper plate (second 4 side surface of lower plate 5 first guide 6 second guide 10 needle roller of needle bearing (first guide member) 10 'retainer of needle bearing (first guide member) 11 block portion 12, 13 Pivot 14, 15 Roller receiver 16, 17, 18, 19 Roller (second guide member) 20 Roller (third guide member) 22 Spring member (pressing member) 25 Second guide having spring property 26 Ball

Claims (4)

[Claims] A stage provided with a first plate member and a second plate member which moves relative to the first plate member, wherein a second plate member is formed on a plane of the first plate member. A first parallel guide; a second parallel guide formed on the plane of the second plate member so as to face the first parallel guide; a first parallel guide; and a second parallel guide. A first guide member guided by the first plate member, a first guide formed at a predetermined angle with respect to the plane of the first plate member, and a first guide member provided on the first plate member. A second guide provided substantially parallel to the guide; and a second guide located between the first guide and the second guide;
A block portion provided on the second plate member; a second guide member supported by the block portion and guided by the first guide; and the block portion facing the second guide. A third guide member supported by the second guide and guided by the second guide; and the third guide member presses the second guide, and the second guide member presses the first guide. And a pressing member. 2. The stage according to claim 1, wherein said pressing member includes a spring member, and said spring member is interposed between said third guide member and said block portion. 3. The stage according to claim 1, wherein the second guide also serves as the pressing member, and has a spring property in a direction of pressing the third guide member. 4. The stage according to claim 1, wherein the third guide member includes a plurality of balls.