The structure of a linear motor mainly consists of three parts: the stator, the mover, and the support wheel for linear motion. To ensure good electromagnetic field coupling between the stator and the mover within the range of travel, the core lengths of the stator and the mover are not equal. The stator can be made in two forms: short stator and long stator. Due to the high structural cost and operating expenses of the long stator, it is rarely used. Like a rotating magnetic field, the stator core of a linear motor is also made of laminated silicon steel sheets, with slots on the surface; three-phase, two-phase, or single-phase windings are embedded in the slots; single-phase linear induction motors can be made in a shaded pole type or can be phase shifted by capacitors.

A linear motor is created by unrolling and straightening the primary of a traditional cylindrical motor, transforming its enclosed magnetic field into an open one. In this configuration, the stator of the rotary motor becomes the primary of the linear motor, while the rotor of the rotary motor becomes the secondary of the linear motor. If the primary is fixed, the secondary can move linearly along the direction of the traveling wave magnetic field. This allows for a direct drive feed system for high-speed machine tools, where the primary and secondary of the linear motor are directly mounted on the worktable and bed of the high-speed machine tool, respectively. This feed transmission method is known as "zero transmission" in machine tool feed systems due to the shortened transmission chain to zero.