According to some examples a substance displacement apparatus may comprise a gas ejection aperture and a deflector arm. The gas ejection aperture may be to direct gas towards a roller having a surface on which a substance is disposed. The deflector arm may be moveable between a first position in which gas is directed away from a target area on the surface of the roller, and a second position in which gas is directed towards the target area on the surface of the roller, thereby to displace at least some of the substance from the surface of the roller within the target area. A method and a print apparatus are also disclosed.

A piezoelectric transducer (100) comprises a piezoelectric foil (10) with a piezoelectric material (M) exhibiting a shear piezoelectric effect (d14). An actuating structure (20) is configured to actuate the foil with actuation forces (Fu, Fd) applied at respective actuation points (Au, Ad) in respective actuation directions (U, D) to bend the foil in two opposing bending directions (S1, S2), which are orthogonal to each other and both diagonal to the polarization direction (3) of the foil, according to a saddle shape deformation. Preferably, the foil (10) is wrapped around a flexible plate (15).

An apparatus comprises a stressed glass member and an actuator mounted on the stressed glass member. A power source is coupled to the actuator. An abrasion structure is disposed between the actuator and the stressed glass member. The abrasion structure comprises abrading features in contact with the stressed glass member. The abrading features have a hardness higher than a hardness of the stressed glass member. When energized by the power source, the actuator is configured to induce movement of the abrasion structure that causes the abrading features to create scratches in the stressed glass member to a depth sufficient to initiate fracture of the stressed glass member.

A nano-positioning system for fine and coarse nano-positioning including at least one actuator, wherein the at least one actuator includes a high Curie temperature material and wherein the nano-positioning system is configured to apply a voltage to the at least one actuator to generate fine and/or coarse motion by the at least one actuator. The nano-positioning system being a stand-alone system, a scanning probe microscope, or an attachment to an existing microscope configured to perform a method of creepless nano-positioning that includes positioning a probe relative to a first area of a substrate using coarse stepping and interacting with the first area of the substrate using fine motion after less than 60 seconds of the positioning the probe. The movement of the scanning probe microscope is actuated by a high Curie temperature piezoelectric material that limits and/or eliminates creep, hysteresis and aging.

In the system, two ultrasonic transducers, which form a pair and each have a piezoelectric ceramic plate-shaped element with a rectangular geometry, can be fastened to a surface of a component. The two ultrasonic transducers are arranged at a distance from one another such that there is no direct mechanical contact and they are arranged beside one another with a parallel orientation of their central longitudinal axes. The two elements have a different polarization along their width and are connected with the same polarity to an electrical voltage source. The two plate-shaped elements can also have an identical polarization along their width and can be connected in this case with opposite polarity to an electrical voltage source. At least one ultrasonic transducer and/or at least one further ultrasonic transducer is/are designed to detect ultrasonic waves reflected by defects and/or shear waves simultaneously emitted by the two ultrasonic transducers.

The invention provides a substrate support arranged to support a substrate, comprising piezo a actuator, further comprising a first pair of electrodes, a second pair of electrodes and a piezo material having a first surface and a second surface. The first surface is arranged along a first direction and second direction. The first pair of electrodes comprises a first electrode arranged on the first surface and a second electrode arranged on the second surface. The second pair of electrodes is arranged to shear the piezo material. The first pair of electrodes is arranged to elongate the piezo material in a third direction perpendicular to the first direction and second direction. The first electrode is divided into at least two parts and is arranged to rotate the first surface and the second surface relatively to each other about the first direction wherein the piezo actuator is arranged to support the substrate.

A multi-degree-of-freedom sample holder, comprising a housing and a rotating shaft, is disclosed. A frame is provided between the housing and the rotating shaft, and the frame is coaxial with the housing and rotating shaft. The present invention has multiple degrees of freedom such as high-precision translational freedom of the sample along the X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis, and 360° rotation of the sample around the axis, etc. The sample is always aligned with the sample holder shaft during the rotation, and the static electricity accumulated on the sample can be led out.

According to some examples a substance displacement apparatus may comprise a gas ejection aperture and a deflector arm. The gas ejection aperture may be to direct gas towards a roller having a surface on which a substance is disposed. The deflector arm may be moveable between a first position in which gas is directed away from a target area on the surface of the roller, and a second position in which gas is directed towards the target area on the surface of the roller, thereby to displace at least some of the substance from the surface of the roller within the target area. A method and a print apparatus are also disclosed.

A device for establishing a bonding connection, with a bonding head mounted so as to rotate about an axis of rotation, and a transducer (1) mounted on the bonding head. The transducer (1) has a piezo actuator (5) for generating ultrasonic vibration, in particular a natural ultrasonic vibration. Electrodes are (20) provided on the piezo actuator (5) in such a way that the piezo actuator (5) can be excited by an electric field in a field direction (10) transverse to a polarization direction (9) of the piezo actuator, and as a result of the excitation and of the connection of the piezo actuator (5) to the fastening section (6) and to the tool holder (3), the piezo actuator (5) carries out a shearing motion in a shearing plane (18) formed by the polarization direction (9) and by the field direction (10).

Single bulk unimorph piezoelectric elements, with interdigitated electrodes aligned obliquely relative to the direction perpendicular to the axis of the element, such that a torsional response is induced into the element. When such elements are used as a beam structure, with angularly oriented electrodes on both opposite surfaces of the beam, and with their orientations at mutually opposite angles, motion ranging from pure torsional rotation to pure bending can be obtained, depending on the comparative level and polarity of the voltages applied to each of the two electrode sets. If such elements are used as the spiral support arms of a central platform, a large displacement of the stage can be achieved. Due to the oblique orientation of the IDE's, the piezoelectric transduction induces torsional deformation in the spirals, and this torsion is converted by the spiral arms to a parallel out-of-plane platform motion.