AFM Stepper Motor Controller Platform

Overview

Commercial stepper motor drivers lacked the flexibility required for seamless integration into the AFM control environment. To address this, two custom motor controller variants were developed: a fully integrated controller for the AFM coarse Z-stage and a compact USB-controlled version for motorized camera positioning.

The primary controller supports operation through the AFM software, USB, or a local HMI with rotary encoder and display. In addition, it provides encoder-less position tracking through precise step monitoring, allowing reliable position estimation without dedicated position sensors.

Key Contributions:

• Development of two custom stepper motor controller variants for AFM and camera-axis control
• Direct integration with the AFM control software
• USB and HMI-based operation (rotary encoder and display)
• Encoder-less position tracking via accurate step counting
• 4-layer PCB design using KiCad
• Firmware development in modern C++17
• Mechanical integration into a 19-inch instrumentation rack
• Hardware bring-up, testing, and deployment in a production system