Positioning device

A positioning device for positioning a stage relative to a tool mounted on a carrier device, the positioning device comprising:

• two intersecting linear axes disposed one above the other in a vertical direction for pre-positioning the stage in two linearly independent directions;
• a first magnetic levitation unit configured to support the stage on a first one of the two linear axes, the stage being actively movable for fine positioning in six degrees of freedom;
• a measuring head and a first and a second 6-DOF encoder configured to determine a position of the stage relative to the carrier device, the measuring head being mounted on a second one of the two linear axes, the first 6-DOF encoder being disposed between the carrier device and the measuring head and the second 6-DOF encoder being disposed between the measuring head and the stage;
• and
• a second magnetic levitation unit disposed on the second one of the two linear axes and configured to actively move the measuring head in the six degrees of freedom.