Magnetism meet microelectromechanical systems

The integration of magnetic materials in conventional micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) is becoming a hot topic for various applications. Integrated micromagnets are used for magnetic actuation or energy harvesting, due to the sizable forces they allow to produce on movable parts without friction. On the other hand, movable micromagnets can be exploited for reconfiguring the functionalities of integrated magnetic devices exposed to their stray field. Soft magnetic layers are instead used to confine or create magnetic field gradients to be used for sensing applications. In this talk I'll present three specific applications (i) the realization of MEMS magnetometers based on magnetic microresonators interacting with the gradient of a magnetic field produced by a magnetic flux concentrator or a superconductive coil, (ii) the implementation of a magnetic plucking technology for frequency up-conversion in energy harvester and (iii) the development of hybrid magnonic-MEMS devices where the bias field for the propagation of spin waves in spin-textures is provided by some movable micromagnets integrated in a MEMS.