ETEL, a HEIDENHAIN company that supplies high-performance motion-control components and complete motion platforms, has introduced the METIS HP, a full air-bearing planar platform designed for the most demanding step-and-scan semiconductor applications, including direct laser writing and high-resolution optical inspection systems.
The company presents the launch as a further strengthening of its position in high-precision motion control, describing the platform as combining speed and stability with dynamic straightness and projected tool-point measurement capability.
Encoder-based metrology and trigger emulation
At the core of the METIS HP is a multi-degree-of-freedom (mDoF) HEIDENHAIN encoder that ETEL says ensures accuracy without thermal drift. That architecture enables projected tool-point measurement, and ETEL controllers can emulate a transistor-transistor logic (TTL) position signal for use as a trigger event.
ETEL describes this as a compelling alternative to the classical interferometer used as an advanced trigger generator. With the METIS HP, no mirror needs to be added to the carriage, there is no air lensing effect or air perturbation, and the approach carries a lower cost.
Stated accuracy, straightness and acceleration
The published figures are ±150 nm accuracy over the full XY stroke after mapping, ±150 nm dynamic straightness at speeds up to 1 m/s, and dynamic capability reaching accelerations up to 20 m/s². ETEL says these capabilities minimize turnaround time and therefore increase machine throughput in step-and-scan applications. The accuracy value is qualified by the mapping step across the full XY stroke, a condition the company attaches to the specification.
Focus control for advanced packaging inspection
High-end inspection applications for advanced packaging call for rapid and precise focal-distance adjustments. The platform's high-bandwidth 4-DoF module provides fine control over the Z, tip, tilt and theta axes, which ETEL presents as making the METIS HP suited to these inspection tasks.
Stéphane Pellegrini, Product Manager at ETEL, said the METIS HP builds on the company's long-standing expertise in high-precision platforms and supplies the trajectory quality required for advanced optical processes. He added that its speed stability and dynamic straightness are intended to keep performance consistent even at high scanning velocities.
With support for panel sizes up to 600 mm × 600 mm, ETEL says the platform addresses growing demand for next-generation maskless lithography on large-area substrates.
The platform therefore addresses two duties described by ETEL: step-and-scan exposure, where throughput, acceleration and trajectory quality dominate, and high-end inspection, where fast and precise focal-distance adjustment matters. The same air-bearing planar architecture and encoder-based measurement are presented as serving both.