STACIS® 4 is the most advanced, commercially available, active vibration cancellation system. By employing advanced inertial vibration sensors, sophisticated control algorithms, and state-of-the-art piezoelectric actuators, the STACIS 4 system, combined with our proprietary FloorSense™ technology, provides exceptional vibration isolation at low frequencies.
Image Credit: TMC Vibration Control
This is achieved through the continuous measurement of floor vibration, which is countered in real time by expanding and contracting piezoelectric actuators to cancel out floor motion.
Initially designed to isolate precision microlithography, metrology, and inspection equipment in advanced semiconductor facilities, STACIS has since become the industry standard for safeguarding sensitive instruments in noisy environments.
These include, but are not confined to, semiconductor fabs, failure analysis labs, nanotechnology research facilities, nanofabrication laboratories, as well as materials and life science research centers.
The all new STACIS 4 builds upon the success of our proven STACIS technology, which is used by 9 of the top 10 semiconductor manufacturers worldwide.
STACIS 4 builds on the advanced architecture of previous generations by adding advanced control algorithms and new patented technology. The results are previously unachievable vibration cancellation of building floor vibration at all frequencies, but particularly below 10Hz, where high resolution imaging and metrology is most sensitive. When combined with patented FloorSense™ technology, STACIS 4 reduces building floor vibration by 60 dB at 2 Hz and 27dB at 1Hz. Full performance specifications for STACIS 4 are included below.
STACIS® System on “risers” installed as a custom-designed TMC Quiet Island® subfloor platform to support an eBeam lithography tool in a 36 in. tall raised floor. Image Credit: TMC Vibration Control
Thermo Fisher Titan Krios Cryo Transmission Electron Microscope supported by a STACIS Platform at Oregon Health Sciences University. Image Credit: TMC Vibration Control
The STACIS® 4 Advantage
- Reduces most floors by 4 to 5 VC (Vibration Criterion) levels
- Hundreds of times stiffer than air isolators, STACIS does not suffer from any of the limitations inherent in air vibration isolation systems. It lacks a “soft” suspension, and unlike active air systems, STACIS can be positioned beneath a tool equipped with an internal active air isolation system, with both systems fully optimized.
- The unique serial design and proprietary high-force piezoelectric technology result in an expansive active bandwidth ranging from 0.5 Hz to 150 Hz, offering unparalleled truly active vibration cancellation with over 95% reduction at 2 Hz.
A STACIS® System, incorporating a non-ferromagnetic, highly damped aluminum platform, provides a second stage of vibration isolation for a Bruker BioSpin 600 MHz NMR Spectrometer. Image Credit: Bruker BioSpin and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Features and Performance
- Reduces most floors by 4 to 5 VC (Vibration Criterion) levels
- Vibration isolation starts at 0.2 Hz, with 85% to 96% isolation at 1 Hz
- Provides 96 - 99.9% isolation at frequencies 2 Hz and higher, vertical and horizontal
- Reduces fab floor construction costs, allows tools to be installed in higher vibration environments
- Active bandwidth, 0.2 Hz to 150 Hz
- Used by 9 of the top 10 Semiconductor manufacturers
- 6-degree-of-freedom active hard mount design, no soft air suspension
- A robust control system that requires no scheduled re-tuning
- A point-of-use solution that is compatible with internal tool vibration isolation systems
- Ensures tool vibration criteria will be met as vibration levels increase over time
- Uses TMC’s STACIS® technology to cancel vibration using piezoelectric actuators
- Digital Controller with PC-Based Graphical User Interface (GUI)
- Enables older and noisier floors to accommodate state-of-the-art tools
- Compatible with various floor heights and sub-floor geometries in fabs
- Increases throughput, quality, and yield
- RoHS Compliant
Image Credit: TMC Vibration Control
4500 lbs (2045 kg) payload tested with simulated vibration at VC-C (500 μin./s, 12.5 μm/s, RMS). Image Credit: TMC Vibration Control
Specifications and Options
Installation of a TMC Quiet Island® with a high stiffness, highly damped stainless steel platform on STACIS®. Image Credit: Texex Instruments' Kilby Center.
A Cameca NanoSIMS 50L on a TMC 65 Series Floor Platform supported by STACIS® Isolators. This tool is a 5,000-pound secondary ion mass spectrometer with a spatial resolution of 50 nanometers. Image Credit: Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute (PSSRI) at The Open University, Milton Keynes, U.K.
Source: TMC Vibration Control
| Performance Specifications |
STACIS 4 with FloorSense |
| Active degrees of freedom |
6 |
| Active bandwidth |
0.2-150 Hz |
| Isolation at 1 Hz |
85-96% |
| Isolation at 2 Hz |
96-99.9% |
| Settling time |
0.02 sec. |
| Internal noise |
<0.05 nm RMS |
| Operating load range per isolator |
Low capacity: 400-1100 lbs (181-499 kg)
Med capacity: 900-2100 lbs (408-953 kg)
Hi capacity: 1900-4500 lbs (862-2041 kg) |
| Stiffness (1000 lb./454 kg mass Med capacity isolator) |
40,000 lbs/in (73 x 105 N/m) |
| Magnetic field emitted at max 4 inches (102 mm) from isolator |
<0.02 µG broadband RMS |
Source: TMC Vibration Control
| Design, Dimensions, Environmental |
| Environmental and safety |
CE and RoHS-compliant |
| Active isolation elements |
Piezoelectric actuators with minimum 3300 lb. (1500 kg) capacity receive signal from a high-voltage amplifier with an output of up to 800 VDC. Vertical actuators support the isolated payload. |
| Passive isolation element |
Single stiff isotropic elastomer (no compressed air supply required) |
| Vibration sensor elements |
Downward facing geophone type inertial sensors that measure floor vibration below the isolator and deliver voltage proportional to the velocity of vibration motion |
| Active feedback control |
Floor vibration is measured, processed and attenuated below the spring supporting the isolated surface |
| Isolator dimensions |
11.75 x 12.5 x 10.8 in.
300 x 320 x 275 mm |
| Isolator weight |
75 lbs (34 kg) |
| Operating temperature |
50° - 90° F | 10° - 32° C |
| Storage temperature |
-40° - 130° F | -40° - 55° C |
| Humidity |
<80% @ 68° F (20° C) |
| System power requirements |
100, 120, 230, 240 VAC
50/60 Hz AC; <600 W |
| Floor displacement |
<480 μin. (12 μm) below 10 Hz |
| Isolator count per system |
minimum of 3 |
| Options |
laminated stainless steel platforms, frames, risers, leveling devices, earthquake restraints, lifthoods |
Source: TMC Vibration Control
| DC-2020 Controller Specifications |
| Dimensions (WxDxH) |
19 x 8.5 x 1.75 in.
483 x 216 x 45 mm |
| Weight |
6.3 lbs (2.9 kg) |
| Processor |
150/75 MHz dual core |
| Sampling rate |
10 kHz |
| Analog outputs |
16 channels |
| Analog inputs |
16 channels |
| Status light |
single LED |
| Front panel ports |
1x serial USB 2.0
1x serial Micro-USB
1x Ethernet RJ-45
2x BNC |
| Rear panel ports |
1x serial USB 2.0
1x Ethernet RJ-45
1x RS-232 DB-9 legacy serial for legacy
STACIS 2100 isolators |
| User interface |
Front panel LCD display
Character menu on HyperTerminal
Extended GUI for Microsoft Windows
Embedded Ethernet GUI |
STACIS Floor Platform supporting an Omicron Multiprobe Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) with nanometer-scale resolution at the Max Planck Institute in Dresden, Germany. Image Credit: TMC Vibration Control
STACIS Floor Platform supporting a JEOL JEM-2100F Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). Image Credit: TMC Vibration Control
This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by TMC Vibration Control.
For more information on this source, please visit TMC Vibration Control.