Fabrication of high-resolution reflective scale grating for an optical encoder using a patterned self-assembly process

Steel tape scale grating of a reflective incremental linear encoder has a key impact on the measurement accuracy of the optical encoder. However, it is difficult for conventional manufacturing processes to fabricate scale grating with high-resolution grating strips, due to process and material problems. In this paper, self-assembly technology was employed to fabricate high-resolution steel tape scale grating for a reflective incremental linear encoder. Graphene oxide nanoparticles were adopted to form anti-reflective grating strips of steel tape scale grating. They were deposited in the tape, which had a hydrophobic and hydrophilic grating pattern when the dispersion of the nanoparticles evaporated. A standard lift-off process was employed to fabricate the hydrophobic grating strips on the steel tape. Simultaneously, the steel tape itself presents a hydrophilic property. The hydrophobic and hydrophilic grating pattern was thus obtained. In this study, octafluorocyclobutane was used to prepare the hydrophobic grating strips, due to its hydrophobic property. High-resolution graphene oxide steel tape scale grating with a pitch of 20 μm was obtained through the self-assembly process. The photoelectric signals of the optical encoder containing the graphene oxide scale grating and conventional scale grating were tested under the same conditions. Comparison test results showed that the graphene oxide scale grating has a better performance in its amplitude and harmonic components than that of the conventional steel tape scale. A comparison experiment of position errors was also conducted, demonstrating an improvement in the positioning error of the graphene oxide scale grating. The comparison results demonstrated the applicability of the proposed self-assembly process to fabricate high-resolution graphene oxide scale grating for a reflective incremental linear encoder.