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Expanding Nanopositioning Options with Bi-Phase Piezo Motors

prnewswire.com
PI The article discusses PI's expansion of its Bi-Phase Inertia Drive (BIX) technology with new motor architectures for nanopositioning. It highlights the advantages of BIX, such as reduced piezo hysteresis and increased acceleration, and its adaptability to various applications including cryogenic environments and semiconductor instrumentation. The focus is on technological development and potential applications rather than financial performance.

Expanding Nanopositioning Options with Bi-Phase Piezo Motors Recent developments extend PI's compact inertia-based drive architecture.

SHREWSBURY, Mass., Sept. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- PI (Physik Instrumente) is expanding its Bi-Phase Inertia Drive (BIX) technology with new motor architectures for compact, high-precision nanopositioning. Building on the B-421 BIX nanopositioning stages, PI engineers have demonstrated new BIX-based designs for higher-force linear motion, rotary positioning, micrometer screw drives, tip/tilt motion, and cryogenic environments.

BIX uses two synchronized PICMA® multilayer piezo actuators driven by mirrored sawtooth signals — one expanding while the other contracts — rather than the single-actuator design of conventional stick-slip motors. This reduces the effects of piezo hysteresis and increases acceleration at the friction contact point, giving BIX stages precise, repeatable, self-locking motion in a compact footprint.

Extending BIX to New Applications

PI's recent development work shows how the same bi-phase drive principle can be adapted to different mechanical architectures and performance requirements:

BIX designs have also been adapted for cryogenic operation, including a flexure-guided linear stage prototype. Together, these developments show the potential to scale the BIX architecture across a range of motion requirements while retaining the core advantages of the bi-phase drive principle.

For OEM customers, the technology provides a platform for compact, high-precision positioning mechanisms in applications where conventional motorized stage designs are constrained by available space, holding requirements, or mechanical complexity.

More information: Bi-Phase Nanopositioning Motor Applications

Applications and Industries Served

Photonics, laser and optical alignment, metrology, microscopy, semiconductor instrumentation

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SOURCE Physik Instrumente (PI)