*** 96-60326 Rosenthal This Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase I project will explore control of vibrations for front-end semiconductor manufacturing equipment, where micron precision is required. This control is required at sub-Hertz (Hz) frequencies, where local seismic activity and disturbances in the manufacturing plant often cause vibrations of the supporting floor. Presently available vibration isolation tables are not effective below 1 Hz. A true multi-channel active feed-forward vibration controller is needed that minimizes the total positional error of manufacturing equipment being controlled. Phase I will investigate a new method called SFR-SVD, meaning signal-free reference using singular value decomposition, to provide effective vibration isolation at micron resolution and sub-Hertz frequencies. It is expected to reduce vibration by at least 20 decibels from 0.1 Hz to 100 Hz. Commercial application will be found in integrated circuit manufacturing facilities of the semiconductor industry. The cost of semiconductor foundry buildings may be significantly reduced. ***
