# Z stage compatible with Micro-Manager recommendations?
**URL:** https://forum.microlist.org/t/z-stage-compatible-with-micro-manager-recommendations/1814
**Category:** Hardware
**Created:** [June 1, 2022, 1:30pm UTC](https://forum.microlist.org/t/z-stage-compatible-with-micro-manager-recommendations/1814 "2022-06-01T13:30:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@pawlowska](https://forum.microlist.org/u/pawlowska)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2022, 1:30pm UTC](https://forum.microlist.org/t/z-stage-compatible-with-micro-manager-recommendations/1814/1 "2022-06-01T13:30:38Z")
I need to buy a focusing stage for a home-built microscope with \<0.1 um precision (so probably piezo? Or not?), ideally compatible with Micro-Manager. Any recommendations?
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### Author:  [@jasonkirk](https://forum.microlist.org/u/jasonkirk)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2022, 2:26pm UTC](https://forum.microlist.org/t/z-stage-compatible-with-micro-manager-recommendations/1814/2 "2022-06-02T14:26:19Z")
@pawlowska - this looks like a fun little project:
> **[Low-cost, open-source XYZ nanopositioner for high-precision analytical...](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468067222000621)**
>
> Nanoscale positioning has numerous applications in both academia and industry. A growing number of applications require devices with long working dist…
Runs using an Arduino Mega - which should be addressable with MM.
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### Author:  [@VoxylMicroscopes](https://forum.microlist.org/u/VoxylMicroscopes)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2022, 8:15am UTC](https://forum.microlist.org/t/z-stage-compatible-with-micro-manager-recommendations/1814/3 "2022-06-03T08:15:40Z")
> **[NanoScan SP400/SP600 Nanopositioning Piezo Sample Scanner - Prior Scientific](https://www.prior.com/product/nanopositioning-piezo-sample-scanner)**
There is a driver for the Prior piezo Z stage. 400 or 600 um scan range. The price is around $12k.
Best,
-Tom
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### Author:  [@nico.stuurman](https://forum.microlist.org/u/nico.stuurman)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2022, 3:19pm UTC](https://forum.microlist.org/t/z-stage-compatible-with-micro-manager-recommendations/1814/4 "2022-06-08T15:19:02Z")
How much less than 100nm? The main advantage of piezo stages is that they are fast (which may become important). Vendors of piezo stages are Physik Instrumente, Mad City Labs, ASI, PiezoConcept, PiezoSystem Jena, Standa, Wieneke & Sinske (all of the are Micro-Manager compatible, I have experience with only one or two of these).
Otherwise, other types of motors are likely more affordable and may well give the minimum step size you ahttps://micro-manager.org/Device\_Supportre after. Again, many vendors, you can start with the Micro-Manager device page:
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### Author:  [@pawlowska](https://forum.microlist.org/u/pawlowska)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2022, 1:58pm UTC](https://forum.microlist.org/t/z-stage-compatible-with-micro-manager-recommendations/1814/5 "2022-07-06T13:58:23Z")
Hi @nico.stuurman I was hoping that maybe someone did the market research recently and could share the knowledge. From my side: it appears that Standa piezos (or at least some of them) are discontinued - that’s the answer I got in reply to quote request. On the other hand, Thorlabs now has piezos that in theory have mm-compatible software. We ended up ordering from Mad City Labs, we’ll see.
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### Author:  [@pawlowska](https://forum.microlist.org/u/pawlowska)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2022, 1:58pm UTC](https://forum.microlist.org/t/z-stage-compatible-with-micro-manager-recommendations/1814/6 "2022-07-06T13:58:55Z")
It does seem fun! If only the day had more than 24 hours in it… 😉