Recently, mastering processes for high density optical disc such as Blu-ray disc rely on electron beams, which are operable in only vacuum. In the mastering process, one of the most important tasks is to design precision stages for providing precise positioning of the works with respect to the source in a high vacuum environment. In this paper, we have developed a precision rotation table usable in the electron beam mastering. The rotation table adopted air bearings for a high positioning repeatability and velocity stability. The air leakage from the air bearings has been minimized by employing the differential exhaust scheme using three steps of air drain. The design parameters such as diameters of exhaust lines, seal lengths, and pumping speeds were decided according to the optimization method using genetic algorithm. The performance on the vacuum level of the rotation table was evaluated experimentally and theoretically. The results indicate that a vacuum level of 10?⁴ ㎩ is achieved with operation of air bearings in a vacuum chamber, which is sufficient for the electron beam mastering.
