0000000000542053
AUTHOR
Jan Kubik
Measuring low H field and currents with AMR sensors
The growing demand from the automotive industry for high accuracy magnetic sensors and the need to perform high resolution angular position measurements have been the drivers for the industrial research in magnetic sensing technologies. This paper describes the design and characterization of several experimental devices implementing simple magnetoresistive structures targeting contactless current measurement in the tens to hundreds of milliamps range with sub-mA resolution. The ultimate goal is to extend the application area of magnetoresistive sensors beyond their current niche in automotive into more general applications. The initial set of devices tested to-date has shown a sensitivity o…
Impact of Annealing Temperature on Tunneling Magnetoresistance Multilayer Stacks
The effect of annealing temperatures on the tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) of MgO-based magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) has been investigated for annealing between 190 and 370°C. The TMR shows a maximum value of 215% at an annealing temperature of 330°C. A strong sensitivity of the TMR and the exchange bias of the pinned ferromagnetic layers on the annealing temperature are observed. Depending on sensor application requirements, the MTJ can be optimized either for stability and pinning strength or for a high TMR signal by choosing the appropriate annealing temperature. The switching mechanism of the ferromagnetic layers in the MTJ and the influence of the annealing on the layer properties,…