Abstract
This paper describes a theoretical analysis and experimental verification on the performances of a vacuum-compatible air bearing, which is designed with a cascaded exhaust scheme to minimize the air leakage in a vacuum environment. The design of the vacuum-compatible air bearing equipped with the differential exhaust system requires great care because several design parameters, such as the number of exhaust stages, diameter of exhaust tube, pumping speed of a vacuum pump, and bearing clearance greatly influence the air leakage and thus degree of vacuum. In this study, a performance analysis method was proposed to estimate the performances of the air bearing, such as load capacity, stiffness, and air leakage. Results indicate that the load capacity and stiffness of the air bearing was improved as its boundary pressure, which was determined by the $1^{st}$ exhaust method, was lowered, and the dominant factors on the chamber's degree of vacuum were the number of exhaust stages, exhaust tube diameter and bearing clearance. A vacuum chamber and air bearing stage using porous pad were fabricated to verify the theoretical analysis. The results demonstrate that chamber pressure up to an order of $10^{-3}$ Pa was achieved with the air bearing stage operating inside the chamber, and this analysis method was valid by comparing predicted values with experimental data, for the mass flow rates from the porous pad, and pressures at each exhaust port and chamber, respectively.
