Five-axis air bearing stage, new from PI

Designed and manufactured in the USA, the A-725 is built for semiconductor manufacturing, photonics, metrology, microscopy, and precision automation, delivering frictionless motion, exceptional geometric accuracy, and precise multi-axis alignment in a compact footprint.

Debuting at Photonics West, the system offers XY travel from 100100 mm up to 300400 mm, plus 5 mm of Z travel and +/-2deg of tip/tilt. A 250 mm platform diameter and up to 8 kg payload capacity make the A-725 well suited for demanding optical inspection, alignment, laser dicing, and other precision manufacturing tasks.

Unlike conventional stacked XY stages, the A-725 is built around PI's A-311 planar air bearing stage where the moving platform glides over a common reference plane in both X and Y. This eliminates stacking errors and minimizes Abbe offsets, significantly improving geometric accuracy, a key advantage over conventional stacked or integrated mechanical-bearing stages.

Mounted directly above the planar stage, PI's low-profile A-523 parallel-kinematics module provides precise vertical positioning and angular alignment while keeping a low centre of gravity.

All five axes use ironless three-phase linear motors, eliminating friction, backlash, cogging, and wear for smooth, high-velocity, low-ripple motion. The A-725 ships fully configured with PI ACS-based controllers and drives, wired, tested, and servo-tuned for each customer's payload - minimising commissioning time. More information on air bearing applications

Industries served and applications include semiconductor test and manufacture, wafer stealth slicing, optical metrology, photonics alignment, material research and laser processing.