How lithography wafer stages float: air bearings and maglev enable nanometer-scale positioning
bookwormengr · x · 2026-09-05
Part 3 of a lithography tech explainer thread: mechanical gears have too much friction for nanometer-scale motion, so wafer stages instead float on frictionless air bearings or magnetic levitation (maglev), while laser interferometers track and adjust their position down to fractions of a nanometer.
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