Measurement of five DOF motion errors in the ultra precision feed tables

Five degrees-of-freedom (DOF) motion errors of an ultra precision feed table were measured in this study. The laser interferometer was used to measure the yaw and pitch errors and the reversal method was used for the roll error measurement. The linear motion errors in the vertical and horizontal directions were measured using the sequential two point method. The influence of angular motion errors on the linear motion errors while applying the sequential two point method was compensated with the data from the laser interferometer and the reversal method. Capacitive type sensors and an optical straight edge were used while applying the reversal method and the sequential two point method. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our measuring scheme for the ultra precision feed tables, five DOF motion errors of a hydrostatic table driven by a linear motor were measured and presented. From the measured repeatabilities of 5 DOF error motions, it was estimated that the measuring accuracies were ±0.02 μm for the horizontal and vertical linear motion, ±0.04 arcsec for yaw motion, ±0.05 arcsec for pitch motion and ±0.02 arcsec for roll motion.