1380 results about "Magnetoresistive sensor" patented technology

A host vehicle system includes a blind-spot warning system providing an indication to the host vehicle a target vehicle entering a blind-spot. The system includes a vehicle bus receiving various vehicle control signals, magneto-resistive sensors receiving proximity information as a function of magnetic field variations, a smart algorithm controller analyzing bus signals and sensor signals, and various vehicle collision systems such as passive restraints, optical light guides, and audible warnings operating in response to a threat from a target vehicle.

A method and system for providing a magnetic transducer having an air-bearing surface (ABS) is described. The magnetic read transducer includes a first shield, a magnetoresistive sensor, at least one soft magnetic side shield, and a second shield. The magnetoresistive sensor includes a sensor layer having at least one edge in the track width direction along the ABS. The at least one soft magnetic side shield is adjacent to the at least one edge of the sensor layer. The at least one soft magnetic side shield has a full film permeability of at least ten. The magnetoresistive sensor is between the first shield and the second shield and free of an in-stack hard bias layer.

A method and system for providing a magnetoresistive sensor and a read head that includes the magnetoresistive sensor is disclosed. The method and system include providing a pinned layer, a nonmagnetic spacer layer and a composite sensor layer. The pinned layer has a first magnetization that is pinned in a particular direction. The nonmagnetic spacer layer resides between the composite sensor layer and the pinned layer. The composite sensor layer includes a CoFe layer and a composite layer adjacent to the CoFe layer. The composite layer includes CoFe and at least one of Ta, Hf, Ti, Nb, Zr, Au, Ag, Cu, B, C, O2, H2 and N2.

A method for maximizing the interfacial properties of magnetoresistive sensors, such as spin valve and GMR sensors used in storage devices, comprises selecting the materials for ferromagnetic layers and for electrically conductive spacers that are interposed between the ferromagnetic layers. The electronegativities of the selected materials are substantially matched so that an absolute value of the differences in electronegativities is minimized. The conductive spacer material provides a relatively low resistivity and a large mean free path. The sensors experience greater chemical and thermal stability, are corrosion resistant, and realize an increased signal output.

A method for forming a hard bias structure in a magnetoresistive sensor is disclosed. A magnetoresistive sensor having a soft magnetic bias layer, spacer layer, and a magnetoresistive layer, is formed over a substrate having a gap layer. A mask is formed over a portion of the magnetoresistive sensor structure to define a central region. The masked structure is ion milled to remove portions not shielded by the mask, to form the central region with sloped sides, and to expose a region of the gap layer laterally adjacent the sloped sides. A first underlayer is deposited onto at least the sloped sides at a high deposition angle. A second underlayer is deposited to at least partially overlap the first underlayer, and at a first lower deposition angle. A hard bias layer is deposited over at least a portion of the second underlayer, and at a second lower deposition angle.

A magnetoresistive sensor having a novel free layer and a method of producing the same are disclosed. The magnetoresistive sensor comprises a pinned layer, a barrier layer disposed over the pinned layer, and a free layer disposed over the barrier layer. The free layer comprises a first magnetic layer disposed over the barrier layer. The first magnetic layer has a positive spin polarization, a positive magnetostriction, and a polycrystalline structure. The free layer further comprises a second magnetic layer disposed over the first magnetic layer. The second magnetic layer has a negative magnetostriction and comprises at least cobalt (Co) and boron (B).

A method and system for providing a magnetic read transducer is described. The magnetic read transducer includes a magnetoresistive sensor a shield, and a spin pumping barrier layer. The magnetoresistive sensor includes a pinned layer, a spacer layer, and a free layer. The spacer layer is nonmagnetic and resides between the pinned layer and the free layer. The free layer is between the pinned layer and the shield. The spin pumping barrier layer is between the shield and the free layer.

A magnetoresistive read head includes a magnetoresistive sensor and a bias structure adjacent to the magnetoresistive sensor. The bias structure provides a magnetostatic bias field for the magnetoresistive sensor. The bias structure includes an underlayer, a bias layer over the underlayer, and at least one dusting layer directly below at least one of the underlayer or the bias layer.

A read element includes a magnetoresistive sensor having a side and an upper surface that defines an edge. An underlayer overlies the side of the magnetoresistive sensor, and a hard bias layer overlies at least part of the underlayer and defines a hard bias junction with the underlayer. A lead is formed atop the hard bias layer. The hard bias junction is recessed from the edge of the magnetoresistive sensor by a predetermined recess distance, to provide stability and sensitivity to the read element.

A method and apparatus of a spin-type magnetoresistance sensor having a free and pinned magnetic layer stacked with a non-magnetic interposed layer are disclosed. Specifically, the spin-valve type magnetoresistance sensor of the present invention is equipped with a free ferromagnetic layer, a pinned ferromagnetic layer, a non-magnetic spacer layer which is sandwiched between the aforementioned ferromagnetic layers, an anti-ferromagnetic layer which is disposed adjacent to the aforementioned pinned ferromagnetic layer and which is used to pin the direction of magnetization of said pinned ferromagnetic layer, a non-magnetic back layer which is disposed adjacent to the aforementioned free ferromagnetic layer and which is stacked on the opposite side the free ferromagnetic layer from the aforementioned nonmagnetic spacer layer, and an electron-reflective layer which is disposed adjacent to the aforementioned back layer and which is stacked on the opposite side of the back layer from the aforementioned free ferromagnetic layer.

A method and system for providing a magnetic transducer is described. The method and system define a magnetoresistive sensor in a track width direction, provide hard bias material(s) adjacent to the sensor in the track width direction, and provide sacrificial capping layer(s) on a portion of the hard bias material(s). The sacrificial capping layer(s) have a first height in a stripe height direction. The method and system also provide a mask for defining a stripe height of the sensor. The mask covers at least part of the sensor and has a second height in the stripe height direction. The second height is less than the first height. The method and system define the stripe height of the sensor while the mask covers the sensor. The sacrificial capping layer(s) are configured to prevent removal of the portion of the hard bias material(s) while the stripe height is defined.

A high performance TMR sensor is fabricated by incorporating a tunnel barrier having a Mg / MgO / Mg configuration. The 4 to 14 Angstroms thick lower Mg layer and 2 to 8 Angstroms thick upper Mg layer are deposited by a DC sputtering method while the MgO layer is formed by a NOX process involving oxygen pressure from 0.1 mTorr to 1 Torr for 15 to 300 seconds. NOX time and pressure may be varied to achieve a MR ratio of at least 34% and a RA value of 2.1 ohm-um2. The NOX process provides a more uniform MgO layer than sputtering methods. The second Mg layer is employed to prevent oxidation of an adjacent ferromagnetic layer. In a bottom spin valve configuration, a Ta / Ru seed layer, IrMn AFM layer, CoFe / Ru / CoFeB pinned layer, Mg / MgO / Mg barrier, CoFe / NiFe free layer, and a cap layer are sequentially formed on a bottom shield in a read head.

A spin valve magnetoresistance sensor of a thin film magnetic head. In one embodiment, a spin valve magnetoresistance sensor is provided with a spin valve film, in which a base layer including a first base film of Ta or some other nonmagnetic metal and, on top of this, a second base film of an alloy represented by NiFeX (where X is at least one element selected from among Cr, Nb, Rh) is formed on a substrate, and on top of this are formed by layering a free magnetic layer and pinned magnetic layer arranged to enclose a nonmagnetic conductive layer, as well as an antiferromagnetic layer, the second base film has an fcc (face-centered cubic) structure and also has a (111) orientation.

A surgical navigation system having one or more wireless magnetoresistance sensors, where the sensors have the noise and dynamic range appropriate for position and orientation tracking. The surgical navigation system comprising at least one wireless magnetoresistance reference sensor rigidly attached to at least one anatomical reference of a patient, at least one wireless magnetoresistance sensor attached to at least one device, and at least one processor for determining the position and orientation of the at least one device.

A system for integrating radiolucent tracking sensors in a medical table, table mat, or surgical drape of a surgical navigation system, allowing the surgical navigation system to be less obtrusive in a surgery environment. A plurality of radiolucent magnetoresistance sensors are integrated into a table, table mat, or surgical draping of a surgical navigation system for improving surgical navigation workflow and eliminating image artifacts from intraoperative images. The plurality of radiolucent magnetoresistance sensors may be located within a table or adjacent to a table surface.

The invention provides an unscented Kalman filter-based method for tracking an inertial pose according to acceleration compensation, which is used for an inertial measurement unit integrating a three-axis micro-gyroscope, a three-axis micro-accelerometer and a three-axis magnetoresistive sensor, and realizes pose tracking estimation on a device carrier by using rotary angular velocity vectors, acceleration vectors and magnetic field sensor vectors which are detected by the device by means of filter technology. The method comprises the following steps: 1) treating the acceleration vectors as combination of the acceleration vectors and gravity acceleration vectors of the device carrier self, and constructing observation equations respectively for amplitude and normalized direction vectors of the acceleration vectors and the gravity acceleration vectors; 2) describing quaternion, accumulated error vectors of the gyroscope and the acceleration vectors of the device carrier self by using the pose to construct a system state vector; and 3) realizing a filter estimating process of the system by using the unscented Kalman filter technology because of nonlinearity of the observation equations. Compared with the conventional method ignoring the acceleration of the carrier self, the method not only can provide a more accurate estimation result, but also widens the application range of the system.

An intuitive real spatial aiming-based system, and identification and communication methods using the intuitive real spatial aiming-based system. The intuitive real spatial aiming-based system includes aiming device, target devices and an indoor location-based service server. The aiming device includes a mobile computer or a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), which is provided with a first high-speed wireless communication means, a first location tracking sensor, and an electronic compass having a magneto resistive sensor for detecting a direction. The target devices each includes a fixed computer, a home appliance, a PDA, or a mobile communication terminal, which is selectively provided with second high-speed wireless communication means and a second location tracking sensor. The indoor location-based service server tracks the indoor locations and coordinates of the aiming device and the target devices in real time. To tolerate sensor's error, this patent presents an angle-based target region, a width-based target region, and a combination of the two regions.

A turbocharger includes a cylindrical wall and a non-ferromagnetic compressor wheel within the cylindrical wall. The non-ferromagnetic compressor wheel has fins. A magnetoresistive sensor housing is threaded through the cylindrical wall and houses a permanent magnet and at least one magnetoresistor. The permanent magnet is positioned so as to induce eddy currents on the fins. The permanent magnet magnetically biases the magnetoresistor, and the magnetoresistor senses rotation of the non-ferromagnetic compressor wheel.

A planar sensor array for use in a surgical navigation system comprising at least one substrate and at two layers of a plurality of planar sensor coils formed on or within the at least one insulating substrate. The planar sensor array may be an electromagnetic planar transmitter coil array or an electromagnetic planar receiver coil array that includes at two layers of a plurality of planar electromagnetic transmitter or receiver spiral-shaped coils formed on or within the at least one substrate. The surgical navigation system includes the use of at least one magnetoresistance reference sensor attached to a fixed object; at least one magnetoresistance sensor attached to an object being tracked; and a planar sensor coil array communicating with the at least one magnetoresistance reference sensor and the at least one magnetoresistance sensor to determine the position and orientation of the object being tracked.

Products are disclosed for measuring electromagnetic fields. One embodiment has at least two coplanar magneto-resistive sensors. Each magneto-resistive sensor has a sensitive axis in the plane of the at least two coplanar magneto-resistive sensors. The at least two magneto-resistive sensors may be orthogonally arranged about a central point to measure orthogonal components of electromagnetic fields.

The invention discloses an ARM (advanced RISC (reduced instruction set computer) machines) and FPGA (field-programmable gate array) based navigation and autonomous flight control system for an unmanned helicopter. The system comprises a PC (personal computer), an integrated navigation subsystem, a power supply module and controllers, wherein the integrated navigation subsystem comprises a sensor group; the sensor group comprises a GPS (global positioning system), a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a magnetoresistive sensor, a barometric altimeter and a sonar altimeter; the controllers include a main controller and a steering engine controller; the main controller adopts an ARM microprocessor to operate the integrated navigation algorithm and flight control PID (proportion integration differentiation) algorithm and simultaneously completes data acquisition of the GPS, the barometric altimeter and the sonar altimeter; and the steering engine controller adopts an FPGA to realize data acquisition of the gyroscope, the accelerometer and the magnetoresistive sensor and transfers the data to the main controller via a concurrent bus to carry out attitude calculation and control operation on the unmanned helicopter. With the unmanned helicopter as a carrier, the hardware environment of a whole set of flight control system integrating study of the aircraft navigation and control theory problem, data acquisition, information transfer and embedded control is set up.

A biasing system for a tri-layer reader stack magnetoresistive sensor is disclosed. The tri-layer reader stack includes a first ferromagnetic free layer, a second ferromagnetic free layer, and a magnetoresistive layer between the first and second ferromagnetic free layers. The free layers are positioned in the tri-layer reader stack such that quiescent state magnetizations of the free layers are antiparallel. A biasing layer is positioned with regard to the tri-layer reader stack, typically separated from the tri-layer reader stack by a nonmagnetic spacer layer. A biasing means is positioned such that a magnetization of the biasing layer is perpendicular to the quiescent state magnetizations of the free layers. This biasing results in the free layers having biased magnetizations directed substantially orthogonal with respect to each other.

A plurality of movable lenses included in a zoom lens system are driven individually by piezoelectric actuators provided one for each lens. Two driving rods are arranged at different positions along the same line in such a way that neither of the driving rods reaches into the driving stroke of the lens driven by the other. Each driving rod has a piezoelectric actuator provided at its end farther from the other. Alternatively, a plurality of piezoelectric actuators are fixed to a single base block having a groove or a surface level difference to restrict propagation of vibration between the piezoelectric actuators. A graduated member having N-pole and S-pole regions formed alternatively thereon with a predetermined pitch is fixed, parallel to the driving rods, to the driving device itself. A magnetic resistance sensor is attached to each lens frame so as to face the graduated member. Based on the outputs of the sensors, the positions of the individual lenses are detected.

In a magnetic read / write assembly, the magnetoresistive (G)MR sensor element is protected against electrostatic discharge (ESD) and electrical overstress (EOS) by using a low resistance bypass. The low resistance bypass shunts current away from the magnetoresistive sensor element during an ESD or EOS event. This low resistance bypass is made up of two or more resistors connected in series, and positioned in parallel to the magnetoresistive sensor element. The use of electronic circuitry to temporarily disable this low resistance bypass allows the magnetoresistive sensor element to be tested during manufacturing. The low resistance bypass is removed prior to placing the (G)MR head into operation in the magnetic storage system or at any other desired step in the manufacturing process.

A high performance TMR sensor is fabricated by employing a composite inner pinned (AP1) layer in an AP2 / Ru / AP1 pinned layer configuration. In one embodiment, there is a 10 to 80 Angstrom thick lower CoFeB or CoFeB alloy layer on the Ru coupling layer, a and 5 to 50 Angstrom thick Fe or Fe alloy layer on the CoFeB or CoFeB alloy, and a 5 to 30 Angstrom thick Co or Co rich alloy layer formed on the Fe or Fe alloy. A MR ratio of about 48% with a RA of <2 ohm-um2 is achieved when a CoFe AP2 layer, MgO (NOX) tunnel barrier, and CoFe / NiFe free layer are used in the TMR stack. Improved RA uniformity and less head noise are observed. Optionally, a CoFe layer may be inserted between the coupling layer and CoFeB or CoFeB alloy layer to improve pinning strength and enhance crystallization.

An integrated microelectronic sensor is provided in a disposable flow membrane sensing device. The integrated sensors detect electromagnetic effect labels in flow detection zones above the sensor in the membrane. The labels are small particles that give off a detectable electromagnetic signal. They are commonly used for isolating and quantifying biochemical targets of interest. The sensors are fabricated using planar integrated circuit technologies. Sensors can detect labels of several types including magnetic, electric, and photonic. These types all have in common the fact that the sensor detects the label at a distance. Magnetoresistive sensors for detecting magnetic labels, and photodiodes for detecting photonic labels are described.A system for using the sensors is described. There are disposable cartridges with a backing that supports the sensors and membrane is described. The integrated sensor in the cartridge is designed to be discarded after use. Also, label excitation sources are provided. The multi sensor array chip can be configured in order to detect labels in multiple zones, and to monitor progress of flow down a strip of membrane. These multiple label detection zones, using sandwich assay techniques, can quantify analyte concentration for many types of analytical samples. Also, the membrane can be micropatterned in order to provide multiple or unusually shaped flow paths.