Abstract
Magnetoelectric material-based cantilever resonators have been considered as a promising solution for magnetic sensing applications. However, most applications focus on bulk piezoelectric (e.g., PZT) laminated composites, which put a critical limit for miniaturizing into micrometer-sized devices. This work aims at demonstrating the potential of a micro-resonator approach with lower power consumption and smaller size. It reports on the fabrication and characterization of a resonant cantilever based on a freestanding multi-ferroic PZT/Tb–Fe–Co thin film multilayer, where the magnetic signal is sensed by measuring the shift of the device resonant frequency. The Tb–Fe–Co layer acts as a magnetic field sensing layer, while the PZT thin film integrated in the capacitor geometry acts as a micro-transducer to obtain an electrical signal. For a magnetic field less than 0.2 T, a sensitivity as high as 487 Hz/T is measured for the sensor under a vacuum environment. While the sensor design has to be further optimized to improve the performance, it is promising as a micro-magnetoelectric sensor for magnetic field sensing.
Highlights
Magnetoelectric (ME) sensors convert directly a magnetic signal into an electrical one through the mechanical coupling between a ferromagnetic material and a piezoelectric (PZT) one in a multiferroic laminated composite.1–3 The sensitivity of ME resonators with√ a low magnetic noise floor of about pT/ Hz at 1 Hz4–6 is remarkably high compared to other different magnetometers
The growth of epitaxial thin films of piezoelectric materials on top of silicon has been demonstrated by using Pulsed Laser deposition (PLD), with good electromechanical properties of piezoelectric layers
The use of the self-excitation capability of piezoelectric materials, such as in resonance-based biosensors or mass detectors whose general working principle is based on the frequency shift of devices due to stress from external factors,11,12 allows us to avoid the need for solenoid coils in microdesign compared to the conventional ME sensors using AC magnetic field drives
Summary
Magnetoelectric (ME) sensors convert directly a magnetic signal into an electrical one through the mechanical coupling between a ferromagnetic material and a piezoelectric (PZT) one in a multiferroic laminated composite.1–3 The sensitivity of ME resonators with√ a low magnetic noise floor of about pT/ Hz at 1 Hz4–6 is remarkably high compared to other different magnetometers. The use of the self-excitation capability of piezoelectric materials, such as in resonance-based biosensors or mass detectors whose general working principle is based on the frequency shift of devices due to stress from external factors,11,12 allows us to avoid the need for solenoid coils in microdesign compared to the conventional ME sensors using AC magnetic field drives.
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