In this paper, we present a piezoelectric linear micropositioner. Its principle and configuration provide an elegant solution to confined positioning problems requiring compact systems. The developed device shows a high accuracy together with large travel ranges, due to a stepwise operation principle. A simple, low-cost realization process combined with an assembly step has been used to implement the device. The positioner operation principle is based on the well known Inchworm principle: the accurate synchronization of piezoelectric actuation and the use of electrostatic forces as clamping systems produces a step-by-step driving of a slider along the direction of the piezotransducer expansion. The applied principle makes possible a flexible and reliable control of the slider positioning speed, either through the `step-by-step' sequence frequency or through the step length. A positioner was designed and realized to demonstrate the device working principle. Bidirectional, millimeter-range slider motion was performed and slider speeds ranging from a few µm s-1 to a few hundreds of µm s-1 were measured. Three hundred nm steps were estimated at 10 V driving voltage. The process used also allows the realization of similar X-Y positioner designs combining several degrees of freedom.

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