Development of nano-meter motion control in Japan

production machines for next generation lsis such as 4g-drams and for large liquid crystal displays such as 0.5mx0.5m size, and information equipment such as magnetic hard disks and dvds must have the positioning accuracy of a nano-meter order. to realize such a high degree of the positioning accuracy, not only precision machine elements and mechanisms but also high precision sensors, actuators and controller design techniques becomes crucial. this paper introduces recent topics of precision positioning and motion control technology in japan.