Magnetoimpedance Effect in the Ribbon-Based Patterned Soft Ferromagnetic Meander-Shaped Elements for Sensor Application

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 19; no. 11; p. 2468
• Main Authors: Yang, Zhen, Chlenova, Anna A, Golubeva, Elizaveta V, Volchkov, Stanislav O, Guo, Pengfei, Shcherbinin, Sergei V, Kurlyandskaya, Galina V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 29-05-2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Amorphous materials; amorphous ribbons; Anisotropy; Annealing; Biosensors; Chemical etching; Etching; Ferromagnetic materials; Geometry; magnetic field sensor; Magnetic fields; Magnetic materials; Magnetic properties; Magnetism; Magnetoimpedance; Magnetoimpedance effect; meander sensitive element; Meanders; Measurement techniques; Micromachining; Nondestructive testing; Organic chemistry; patterned ribbons; Sensitivity; Sensors; Russia; patterned ribbons; amorphous ribbons; Magnetoimpedance effect; meander sensitive element; magnetic field sensor
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s19112468

Amorphous and nanocrystalline soft magnetic materials have attracted much attention in the area of sensor applications. In this work, the magnetoimpedance (MI) effect of patterned soft ferromagnetic meander-shaped sensor elements has been investigated. They were fabricated starting from the cobalt-based amorphous ribbon using the lithography technique and chemical etching. Three-turn (S1: spacing s = 50 μm, width w = 300 μm, length l = 5 mm; S2: spacing s = 50 μm, width w = 400 μm, length l = 5 mm) and six-turn (S3: s = 40 μm, w = 250 μm, length l = 5 mm; S4: s = 40 μm, w = 250 μm and l = 8 mm) meanders were designed. The 'n' shaped meander part was denominated as "one turn". The S4 meander possesses a maximum MI ratio calculated for the total impedance ΔZ/Z ≈ 250% with a sensitivity of about 36%/Oe (for the frequency of about 45 MHz), and an MI ratio calculated for the real part of the total impedance ΔR/R ≈ 250% with the sensitivity of about 32%/Oe (for the frequency of 50 MHz). Chemical etching and the length of the samples had a strong impact on the surface magnetic properties and the magnetoimpedance. A comparative analysis of the surface magnetic properties obtained by the magneto-optical Kerr technique and MI data shows that the designed ferromagnetic meander-shaped sensor elements can be recommended for high frequency sensor applications focused on the large drop analysis. Here we understand a single large drop as the water-based sample to analyze, placed onto the surface of the MI sensor element either by microsyringe (volue range 0.5-500 μL) or automatic dispenser (volume range 0.1-50 mL).