Performance Of Air Bearing Stages

Air bearing systems provide significantly higher geometric performance than most common guiding systems used in precision positioning stages. The superior performance is due to features such as the averaging effect and the absence of friction. When choosing the air bearing stage that is right for your application, one of the key factors is the straightness and flatness of travel of linear bearings and stages. This application note discusses several performance aspects of air bearing stages, and which performance factor is ideal for the desired application.