Asymmetric fluid-structure dynamics in nanoscale imprint lithography

6.3 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDUREExperiments were performed using the active stage prototype. Prior toperforming each experiment, the gap and angle of inclination was initialized withair as the lubricating fluid in the gap. The alignment was performed by movingthe actuators independently until there were three or four fringes, which wereparallel to the center of rotation of the template holding stage. These fringescould be easily seen and counted with the naked eye. Then the actuators wereuniformly raised by 20 micron and distilled water was dispensed into gap andallowed to fill the gap completely. It was discovered in the course of theexperiments that particle contamination was a major factor contributing to thequality of the experimental results. However, due to the lack of automation,improved results could not be obtained within a reasonable time frame. Thus, theexperimental results presented in this thesis are meant to illustrate the trends inthe data.It is noted that many more sets of data were taken than is shown here,however due to the lack of automation, it was difficult to attain a controlled set ofinitial conditions. Since the data sets have differing initial conditions, the datacannot be easily compared or statistically analyzed. The data provided in thisthesis are meant to exemplify trends in the results as opposed to specific values.6.4 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS6.4.1 Verification of the Simulation Results by ExperimentsSeveral parameters were estimated in the modeling of the active stagesystem. It was hypothesized that the composite axial stiffness parameter has ahigher amount of uncertainty than the other system parameters. Based on this,84