THICK-FILM MAGNETORESISTORS AND RELATED SENSORS

This paper deals with ferromagnetic thick-film materials and with sens ors relying on the resistance change due to an external magnetic field , usually in the range from 10(4) A m(-1) to 10(5) A m(-1). The resear ch for the development of thick-film magnetoresistors (TF-MRs) is brie fly summarized from Ni-based air-fireable pastes to NixCoy-based films fireable in N-2 atmosphere. The different materials are compared, reg arding their magnetoresistive performances (mainly in terms of magneto resistive anisotropy and temperature sensitivity). Some applications a re described, covering the area of position sensing (displacement, pro ximity switch, angle) and the measurement of dynamic quantities (angul ar rotation) either for digital or analogue control systems.