Anisotropic Magnetoresistive Research Articles

A high sensitivity digital giant magneto-impedance (GMI) sensor for magnetic communication

Abstract A high sensitivity Magneto-Impedance (GMI) sensor for magnetic communication systems in harsh environments is presented. In this system, the receiving coil of a conventional magnetic communication system is replaced by a high sensitivity GMI sensor and its digital electronic conditioning as well as digital signal processing. The whole architecture of the sensor is described in detail. It achieves two digital amplitude demodulations to recover, in real time, the binary sequence of the message sent by the transmitter. The demonstration and the validation of the reliable functioning of the system are illustrated through the transmission of messages using On-Off-Keying modulation method. The measured equivalent magnetic noise of the sensor was about noise 2 p T / Hz at 60 kHz, which is largely lower than the noise of other potential types of magnetic sensors such as Anisotropic Magneto-Resistive sensors for this application. This noise level suggests a potential higher communication range. When compared with an inductive coil, the developed sensor also presented an almost flat and sufficiently wide bandwidth compatible with magnetic communication. This bandwidth could potentially be extended according to the application.

An Extensive Review of MR Sensors with Design and Characteristic Evaluation of Three-layered TMR Sensor

Abstract: The reliability and efficacy of sensor-based automated systems have improved due to the proliferation of electric vehicles, renewable sources, and integrated systems in power industries extensively. This has been accomplished by increasing the power density and decreasing the volume of the system. Background: Mathematical estimation and comparative analysis of the physical factors result in massive usage of operational matrices measured using sensors. Magnetic field sensors, used in industries and biomedical applications, have a high level of precision in the evaluation of measurements. In order to extract the measured parameters such as sensitivity, accuracy, operating cost, the linear range of operation, and power utilisation, these sensors adhere to the physical constraints during their nominal working conditions. The characteristics of the aforementioned sensors are enumerated in detail in this article. Objective: This objective is highly focused on providing a comprehensive overview of classification and the properties of Hall-Effect, anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR), giant magnetoresistive (GMR), and tunnelling magnetoresistive (TMR) sensors. The dissertation on its properties concludes that TMR is more reliable and sensitive in variable operating conditions. Methods: The methods for selecting the sensors for an application are confined to voltage fluctuations and sensitivity. A three-layered TMR sensor with two magnetic layers and an insulator in between is proposed as a significant advancement compared to the literature. The micromagnetic simulation is carried out at room temperature for a three-layered TMR made up of neodymium alloy, magnesium oxide, and cobalt platinum alloy. Conclusion: Based on the studies executed, it is determined that TMR is more sensitive than both conventional and MR sensors. The proposed schematic claims that the higher free layer thickness offers maximum sensitivity with 77% negative magnetoresistance. The reduced coercivity of 1.9Oe is achieved in this combination at a specified temperature range.

Flexible anisotropic magnetoresistive sensors for novel magnetic flux leakage testing capabilities

Rigid magnetic field sensors such as anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR), giant magnetoresistive (GMR) and Hall sensors have been used for years and have become industry standard for electromagnetic non-destructive testing (NDT). Recent technological developments in the field of flexible electronics allow for the fabrication of reshapeable magnetic field sensors on flexible substrates via thin-film deposition or printing. The magnetic properties of these sensors have comparable characteristics to industry-standard rigid magnetic field sensors, with the added ability of adapting to the surface of complex components and scanning in contact with the sample surface. This improves defect detectability and magnetic signal strength by minimizing the scanning lift-off (LO) distance. In this article flexible AMR sensors mounted on a rotative mechanical holder were used to scan a semi-circular ferromagnetic sample with 3 reference defects via magnetic flux leakage (MFL) testing, thus demonstrating the applicability of this type of sensors for the scanning of curved samples. In order to benchmark the performance of these sensors in comparison to industry standard rigid magnetic field sensors, a ferromagnetic sample with 10 reference defects of different depths was scanned employing flexible AMR and rigid GMR sensors. Defects with depths ranging from 110μm up to 2240μm were detected with an signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 2.7 up to 27.9 (for flexible AMR sensors) and 6.2 up to 72.3 (for rigid GMR sensors), respectively. A 2D magnetometer mapping of the sample with a spatial scanning step of 10×50μm2 (flexible AMR) and 16×100μm2 (rigid GMR) was obtained. The results show that this type of sensor can be used for high-resolution and high-detail mapping of defects on the surface of planar and non-planar ferromagnetic samples since the scanning lift-off distance is equal to the substrate thickness of 20μm for in-contact scanning. The SNR comparison between flexible and rigid sensors shows that the performance of the flexible AMR sensors employed is not very far behind the performance of the rigid GMR sensors used.

On the influence of magnetic flux guide location to the out-of-plane magnetic field sensing of chip-scale AMR sensor

The anisotropic magneto-resistive (AMR) sensors could detect external magnetic fields through the change of magnetization and resistance. Typically made of thin films, the AMR sensors are generally only sensitive to the in-plane magnetic field. The AMR sensors with Ni pillar array structures as magnetic flux guides have been presented to enhance the detection of out-of-plane magnetic fields. However, the magnetic flux lines transmitted from adjacent pillars may interact with each other, so that their directions will be changed accordingly. Thus, the locations of pillar guides may influence the distribution of magnetic flux lines, and further change the out-of-plane magnetic field sensing performance of the AMR sensor. To gain insight on this design consideration, this study introduces a serpentine routing AMR film with flux guides distributed along each wire gaps. By varying the gap of the serpentine AMR wire and the distance between the pillar and the AMR wire, the influence of flux guide location on the out-of-plane magnetic field sensing is investigated. Through microfabrication processes, the flux guide array can be batch fabricated and defined at appropriate locations, and further monolithically integrated with AMR sensor. Measurements show that for a serpentine AMR sensor with a gap of 70 μm, the sensitivity can be increased by 4.6-fold as the distance between flux guide and AMR film decreases from 20 μm to 0 μm. Moreover, when the flux guide fixed in the middle of gap of the serpentine AMR sensor, the sensitivity can be improved by 5.6-fold as the gap decreases from 70 μm to 50 μm.

A high-sensitive anisotropic magnetoresistive sensor based on hybrid Ta/NiFe/Ta/Al multilayer structure

High sensitivity is crucial for anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) sensors in industrial applications. In this paper, a high- sensitive AMR sensor based on magnetoresistive thin films with Ta/NiFe/Ta/Al four-layer structure is proposed and fabricated. Firstly, the structural parameters were optimized by finite element analysis. Secondly, thin film samples and AMR sensors were prepared. Through the analysis and characterization of reluctance change rate, hysteresis loop, x-ray diffraction and surface morphology and structure, the process parameters were optimized. Finally, the sensor was connected to the designed external circuit, and its technical parameters were tested in a magnetic field test system. The results show that the prepared AMR sensor performs well. It has a high sensitivity of 1.27 mV/V/Oe, a low bridge offset voltage of ±1.64 mV V−1, and a low temperature coefficient of sensitivity of −0.102%/°C. The results contribute to the future development of AMR magnetic field sensor chips.

A nonuniform demagnetizing field model for both static and dynamic responses of anisotropic magnetoresistive thin film sensors

In this paper, an anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) thin film sensor which can be used for magnetic scale has been prepared, and its output voltage is about 4.7–4.9 mV V−1. On the basis of the Stoner–Wohlfarth model and with considering the non-uniformity of the demagnetizing field along the width direction of the strips, both the static and dynamic responses of the AMR sensors have been calculated. The results have shown that the calculated results are in agreement with the experimental data. The magnetization rotation in the magnetic sensor strongly depends on the nonuniform demagnetizing field along the width direction. The magnetization at the center is easily rotated into the field direction, and the magnetization at the edge is difficult to be rotated. The smaller the width of the magnetoresistive strip is, the larger both the demagnetizing field at the edge and the saturation field of the magnetic sensor are. The results are helpful for understanding the magnetization rotation of magnetic sensors and developing the magnetic sensors with high performance.

Magnetic anisotropy instability due to magnetic field annealing in Ta/MgO/NiFe/MgO/Ta anisotropic magnetoresistive sensors

Ta/MgO/NiFe/MgO/Ta anisotropic magnetoresistive thin film sensors, which can be used for magnetic scales, were prepared. To improve the magnetoresistance ratio of the sensors, these sensors were vacuum-annealed with the magnetic field applied, and then, both the static and dynamic magnetoresistive responses of the sensors were obtained. The experimental results have shown that the instability of magnetic anisotropy occurs in the sensors after vacuum-annealing, leading to the significant hysteresis and abnormal output voltage peaks. To investigate the underlying physics, the distribution of the non-uniform demagnetizing field along the width of an anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) strip is considered, and both the static and dynamic responses of the AMR elements have been calculated on the basis of the Stoner–Wohlfarth model. The results have shown that the calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental data. The calculated results have revealed that the angles between the anisotropic field and the external magnetic field are different during the field cyclings of Hmax (maximum magnetic field) to −Hmax and −Hmax to Hmax. The angle difference is up to 6°, leading to different magnetoresistive responses. This paper is helpful for the understanding about the magnetization rotations in magnetic sensors and the manufacturing of sensors.

Pulsed Eddy Current Sensor for Cascade Electrical Conductivity and Thickness Estimation in Nonferrous Metal Plates

This paper presents a pulsed eddy current (PEC) sensor design for cascade electrical conductivity and thickness estimation in non-ferrous metal plates. With a single excitation coil design, the combined change in magnetic flux density caused by the excitation coil and the induced eddy current (EC) in the test plate is detected by a compact anisotropic magneto-resistive (AMR) sensor. The effects of the varying input pulse width are discussed with both numerical simulations in commercial finite element analysis (FEA) software and experimental results, and the time-domain characteristics of the responses are analyzed in relation to the properties of the test plates. It is revealed that the electrical conductivity can be gauged based on the peak value of the short pulse response, and with a known electrical conductivity value, plate thickness can be subsequently derived with the rise time of the long pulse response. A cascade estimation process is therefore proposed to calculate the parameters sequentially by adopting hybrid input signals with both short and long input pulses. Verified by the FEA results, this cascade estimation process was then experimentally validated with a prototype of the PEC sensor.

High-Performance Implantable Sensors based on Anisotropic Magnetoresistive La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 for Biomedical Applications.

We present the design, fabrication, and characterization of an implantable neural interface based on anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) magnetic-field sensors that combine reduced size and high performance at body temperature. The sensors are based on La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 (LSMO) as a ferromagnetic material, whose epitaxial growth has been suitably engineered to get uniaxial anisotropy and large AMR output together with low noise even at low frequencies. The performance of LSMO sensors of different film thickness and at different temperatures close to 37 °C has to be explored to find an optimum sensitivity of ∼400%/T (with typical detectivity values of 2 nT·Hz-1/2 at a frequency of 1 Hz and 0.3 nT·Hz-1/2 at 1 kHz), fitted for the detection of low magnetic signals coming from neural activity. Biocompatibility tests of devices consisting of submillimeter-size LSMO sensors coated by a thin poly(dimethyl siloxane) polymeric layer, both in vitro and in vivo, support their high suitability as implantable detectors of low-frequency biological magnetic signals emerging from heterogeneous electrically active tissues.

Key Parameters for Detectivity Improvement of Low Noise Anisotropic Magnetoresistive Sensors Made of La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 Single Layers on Vicinal Substrates

The current trend in magnetoresistive sensors development is to increase the sensitivity of single sensing elements by using multilayer structures and to design them into arrays. Such arrays are designed to compensate the excess low frequency noise of individual elements, which limits their magnetic resolution. Here, we report the modeling, design, and fabrication of single layer anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) sensors using low noise epitaxial La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 (LSMO) oxide thin films deposited on vicinal SrTiO3 substrates. The fabrication process is simple, and the operation of the sensor is based on a step-induced uniaxial magnetic anisotropy, described using the Stoner–Wohlfarth model. A coherent magnetization reversal process is observed by magneto-optical Kerr effect imaging. A good agreement between experimental data and the expected sensor response confirms the correct operation of the device. Three main fabrication parameters, namely the vicinal angle of the substrate, the deposition temperature, the thin film thickness, and their effects on film anisotropy field and device detectivity have been studied. Detectivity levels as low as 1.4 nT Hz–1/2 at 1 Hz and 240 pT Hz–1/2 in the white noise region are achieved with a single Wheatstone bridge element operating at 310 K. Compared to GMR and AMR sensors, these results are promising for further development and for their use as single layer LSMO low field AMR sensors, including applications as implantable biomedical devices.

Performance of an Anisotropic Magneto-Resistive Sensor Electrical Energy Meter

This paper presents a digital electrical energy meter based on an Anisotropic Magneto-Resistive (AMR) current sensor and an Arduino micro microcontroller. This study aimed at designing and fabricating a digital electrical energy meter using the AMR sensor which overcomes some of the shortcomings of traditional current sensors used in most energy meters, display electrical energy, consumer‟s terminal voltage, supply current, power factor and „real-time‟ power consumption. The study was carried out in the Department of Electrical and Control Engineering, Egerton University between September 2018 and December 2020. The meter was designed using Proteus 8 Professional software and fabricated on a printed circuit board. Algorithms were developed in C-language and stored in the microcontroller to continuously sample voltage and current signals derived from a successive supply voltage divider and the AMR current sensor, respectively. The sampling frequency was 2 kHz and every 10,000 samples were carried out to compute the Root Mean Square (RMS) values of voltage and current. The fabricated meter digitally computed the cumulative electrical energy in kilo-Watt-hours (kWhrs) and the other variables and displayed them on a 16×2 Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) after a consumption of every 0.01 kWhrs. Statistical results on the displayed variables indicated that the meters tested were not significantly different at 0.95 confidence level implying that those meters had similar performance. The extra displays are important and useful to power consumers and service providers in energy utilization and improvement of the quality of the power supplied. Power factor is an exceptional feature in the prototype meter beneficial to both consumers and power agencies in the decision-making process of reducing bills and power distribution costs leading to improved efficiency and service delivery.

Location and corrosion detection of tower grounding conductors based on electromagnetic measurement

Tower grounding conductors are buried underground and serve as the grounded discharge channel for the fault or lightning current of a transmission power system. The performance of the grounding conductor is crucial for the safe and reliable operation of transmission power systems. This study proposes a steel corrosion detection and location method for tower grounding conductors using electromagnetic measurements. To measure the surface alternating current magnetic field from the tower grounding conductor, a three-axis magnetic sensor array was constructed using six anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) magnetic sensors with a small size (mm3). Through simulation analysis, the structural size of the magnetic sensor array was determined, and the feasibility of the detection principle was analyzed. The experimental results showed that the detection accuracy of the grounding conductor position can reach ± 0.1 m. The maximum deviation of the depth detection was 0.0964 m for the square-type grounding conductor. Furthermore, the simulation and experiment demonstrate that the value of fuzzy closeness decreases gradually with an increase in the degree of corrosion of the grounding conductor, proving that the degree of corrosion of the grounding conductor can be evaluated according to the value of fuzzy closeness. The proposed method has significant potential for engineering applications in the detection and maintenance of tower grounding conductors.

Research on New Drilling Downlink Communication Based on Anisotropic Magnetoresistive Technology

With the continuous improvement of automatization of underground oil and gas resources exploitation, more and more instructions are required for the control technology while drilling in complex processes. The conventional downlink communication technology has shortcomings, such as data transmission lag and high bit error rate, which cannot meet the actual needs. Therefore, developing a new high-speed and low bit error rate (BER) downlink communication technology is very important. In this study, a new type of downlink communication system based on the electric current field is designed. Firstly, based on the theory of electromagnetic field and electromagnetic wave, the current distribution model of the drill string is established. Then, the magnetic field distribution model of the drill string is deduced according to the research on the static electromagnetic field and boundary problems. Finally, the ground simulation experiment platform of the downlink communication system is built and tested. The experimental results show that the BER is only 1.02% when the data transmission rate is 1 kbps. To further reduce the BER of the system, the influence factors of information transmission such as different transmitting voltage, inter-electrode distances, and working temperature are tested and analyzed, respectively, which provides ideas for optimizing the technology of downlink information communication while drilling.

Comprehensive evaluation of damages in ferromagnetic materials based on integrated magnetic detection

In order to quickly and comprehensively detect residual stress, microcracks and other damages in ferromagnetic materials, this study developed an integrated magnetic non-destructive testing system with changeable magnetic field excitation based on anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) sensors. The system integrated magnetic memory detection, magnetic flux leakage (MFL) detection and magnetic Barkhausen noise (MBN) detection and was used to perform detection experiments on a 45# steel test-piece with precast residual stress zones and cracks in different directions. The experimental results showed that the proposed system can detect residual stress in a ferromagnetic test-piece, identify microcrack defects of different angles and quantitatively evaluate the residual stress. This paper provided a useful reference for the comprehensive evaluation of damages in ferromagnetic materials.

Orbit-Engineered Anisotropic Magnetoresistive Effect for Constructing a Magnetic Sensor with Ultrahigh Sensitivity.

A strong anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) effect induced by spin-orbit coupling is the basis for constructing a highly sensitive and reliable magnetic sensor. Presently, effective AMR enhancement in traditional films focuses on the modulation of the lattice or charge degree of freedom, leading to a general AMR ratio below 4%. Here, we demonstrate a different strategy to strengthen the AMR effect by tuning the orbital degree of freedom. By inserting an oxygen-affinitive Hf layer into a Ta/MgO/NiFe/MgO/Ta multilayer film, Fe-O orbital hybridization at the MgO/NiFe interface was modulated to trigger an effective orbital reconfiguration of Fe. In turn, the number of holes in the in-plane symmetric d orbits of Fe increased substantially, facilitating the s-d electron scattering to enhance the AMR ratio to 4.8%. By further micromachining the film into a Wheatstone bridge, we constructed a sensing element that displayed an ultrahigh sensitivity of 2.7 mV/V/Oe and a low noise detectability of 0.8 nT/√Hz. These findings help to advance the development of orbit-governed AMR sensors and provide an alternative method for tuning other orbit-related physical effects.

Feature Engineering of Time-Domain Signals Based on Principal Component Analysis for Rebar Corrosion Assessment Using Pulse Eddy Current

Corrosion of steel rebars in reinforced concrete impacts structural integrity of the infrastructure. While several Non-Destructive Testing and Evaluation (NDT&E) techniques exist for corrosion monitoring in structures, there is a need for cost-effective solution for early detection of sub-surface corrosion of rebars in civil infrastructure. Here we present a low-cost corrosion sensing system based on pulsed eddy current detection using anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) sensor to detect the corrosion in steel reinforcing bars. A novel probe with large figure of merit ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$21.62\times6$ </tex-math></inline-formula> m <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{T}^{-1}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> ) is presented, that can detect corrosion in 20 mm diameter rebars at lift-off distances as high as 55 mm with low excitation current of 0.2 A. The sensitivity is enhanced by using area under the curve of various segments of the time-domain sensor output as features. Optimal feature selection and dimensionality reduction, as well as quantitative estimation of extent of corrosion are demonstrated using principal component analysis.

Traffic volume measurement based on a single smart road stud

Anisotropic Magneto-Resistive (AMR) sensing is one of the most burgeoning techniques for traffic volume measurement to support effective traffic management. This is because of its small size, low power consumption and environmental resilience. This paper presents a vehicle detection algorithm based on a new type of AMR sensor called Smart Road Stud (SRS), which can detect the Magnetic Field Intensity (MFI) disturbance generated by passing vehicles. The proposed two-step process can extract the disturbance signal from MFI time series with a simple determination of threshold and a more widespread applicability. However, when vehicle temporal headway is short, an extracted signal may be generated by more than one vehicle. For this case, a method to recognize the number of vehicles the signal corresponds to is proposed also. The results show that the accuracy of traffic volume measurement is higher than 97% when detecting traffic volume in two adjacent lanes.

Direct measurement of current distribution in lithium-ion cells by magnetic field imaging

Inhomogeneous current distribution in lithium-ion cells is a major reason for degradation. A method to measure the locally resolved current distribution is to map the magnetic field caused by the current flowing in the cell. This paper presents an unshielded measurement setup using anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) sensors to map the magnetic field of a cell during operation. Moreover, it proposes an algorithm to calculate the two-dimensional current distribution from magnetic field data. The achieved accuracy of the current density is 227 mA cm −2 at a local resolution of 4 mm 2 . The mathematical problem is reduced to a single matrix multiplication and takes into account specific characteristics of the measurement setup. Simulated and measured data are used to evaluate the proposed algorithm. Two cells with different geometries, capacities and tab designs are tested and compared. The paper provides guidance for the interpretation of the measurement data and introduces a measure to calculate the validity and accuracy, which can also be used to trim the parameters for the inverse problem. Possible fields of applications include end of line tests or state of health investigations where non-destructive and in-situ measurements are needed. • Nondestructive, locally resolved current distribution measurement. • Setup to precisely measure the magnetic field above the cell. • Algorithm to reconstitute current distribution from magnetic field image. • Current distribution measured for cells with different geometries. • Enables inhomogeneity analysis and defect detection in cells.

Investigation of Multilayer Nanostructures of Magnetic Straintronics Based on the Anisotropic Magnetoresistive Effect.

The article presents the results of experimental studies of multilayer nanostructures of magnetic straintronics formed by magnetron sputtering on a 100 mm silicon wafer. The object of the study is two types of nanostructures: Ta/FeNiCo/CoFe/Ta and Ta/FeNi/CoFe/Ta, differing in the ratio of magnetic layers. The magnetic and magnetoresistive characteristics of multilayer nanostructures under varying mechanical loads are studied both on a 100 mm wafer and in the form of 4 × 20 mm2 samples of two types. The first, where the axis of easy magnetization is directed along the long side of the sample, and the second, where the axis of easy magnetization is a tilt at 45°. Based on the obtained data, the conclusions about the practical application of these nanostructures in magnetic straintronics elements are drawn.

Features of Calculation and Investigation of Volt–Oersted Characteristics of an Anisotropic Magnetoresistive Sensor

Features of Calculation and Investigation of Volt–Oersted Characteristics of an Anisotropic Magnetoresistive Sensor