Magnetic Sensor System Using Asymmetric Giant Magnetoimpedance Head

Recently sensitive micro-magnetic sensors are strongly required in various technologies such as BT and IT. This paper gives the comprehensive analysis of the Asymmetric Giant MagnetoImpedance (AGMI) sensor's performance with negative feedback. Asymmetrical behavior of the GMI is required for linear magnetic field sensors as the sensitivity and linearity for magnetic field are the most important parameters in the practical application of GMI to magnetic sensors, and this has been realized by magnetic field annealing in amorphous ribbon. A novel AGMI sensor was developed and the performance of the sensor was carefully studied with and without applying negative feedback. The sensor uses $10\ {\rm mm}\times 1\ {\rm mm}\times 20\ \mu{\rm m}$ ${\rm Co}_{66}{\rm Fe}_{4}{\rm Si}_{15}{\rm B}_{15}$ ribbon as a sensing element. On applying the negative feedback the sensor shows excellent linearity free from hysteresis, independent of temperature variations. The sensitivity AGMI sensor was found to be 0.27 V/Oe in dynamic range of $-2\sim 2\ {\rm Oe}$.