Providing high throughput for heavy payloads in semiconductor manufacturing comes the newest VULCANO2 motion system from Etel of the Heidenhain Group. With its gantry stacked-axes architecture and Etel’s renowned iron-core linear motors coupled with Heidenhain’s optical encoders, the compact VULCANO2 offers high performance at nanometer-level position stability.

The VULCANO2 is a direct drive system designed for both front-end and back-end semiconductor applications requiring the movement of heavy payloads of up to 80 kg. 

Key specifications of VULCANO2 include ±250 nm of bidirectional repeatability at 25 m/s2 acceleration, max speed of 1.2 m/s, and 80 mm move and settle to a ±100 nm window in maximum 170 ms.

The bottom-axes gantry design of the VULCANO2 guarantees repeatability while an all iron-core motor solution delivers the higher dynamics. A granite base has been chosen to yield improved motion flatness at the tool point while minimizing accuracy losses when operating at high duty cycles. The solution also allows for dynamic cable routing through the granite, resulting in a very compact solution that maximizes the ratio between dynamic performance and volume. The motion stage is shaped with XY and XYT configurations which, thanks to its low footprint, allows for an easier drop-in solution into equipment which previously utilized lower dynamic stages.

Possible applications for the VULCANO2 include wafer process control such as overlay metrology, critical dimension/thin film metrology, along with back-end flip-chip processes made on large panels/substrates to name a few.