Fabrication and Characterization of High-Performance Polymer-Based Magnetoelectric DC Magnetic Field Sensors Devices

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Abstract
The development of a DC magnetic field sensor based on a magnetoelectric (ME) PVDF/Metglas composite is reported. The ME sensing composite has an electromechanical resonance frequency close to 25.4 kHz, a linear response (r 2 = 0.997) in the 0-2 Oe DC magnetic field range, and a maximum output voltage of 112 mV (ME voltage coefficient α 33 of ≈30 V·cm -1 ·Oe -1 ). By incorporating a charge amplifier, an AC-RMS converter and a microcontroller with an on-chip analog-to-digital converter, the ME voltage response is not distorted, the linearity is maintained, and the ME output voltage increases to 3.3 V (α 33effective = 1000 V·cm -1 ·Oe -1 ). The sensing device, including the readout electronics, has a maximum drift of 0.12 Oe with an average total drift of 0.04 Oe, with a sensitivity of 1.5 V·Oe -1 (15 kV·T -1 ), and a 70 nT resolution. This feature is for the first time reported on a polymer-based ME device and compares favourably with a reference Hall sensor that showed a maximum drift of 0.07 Oe and an average error of 0.16 Oe, 5 V·T -1 sensitivity, and 2 μT resolution. Such properties allied to the accurate measurement of the DC magnetic field (H DC ) in the 0-2 Oe range make this polymer-based device very attractive for applications, such as Earth magnetic field sensing, digital compasses, navigation, and magnetic field anomaly detectors, among others.
Funding Information
  • Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) (UID/FIS/04650/2013, PTDC/EEI-SII/5582/2014)
  • Basque Government
  • FCT (SFRH/BPD/96227/2013, SFRH/BPD/97739/2013, SFRH/BDE/406, SFRH/BD/70303/2010)
  • Provincial Council of Bizkaia
  • European Union's Seventh Framework Program
  • Marie Curie Actions

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