Magnetic Sensor Based on Giant Magneto-Impedance in Commercial Inductors

Magnetic sensors have various applications in navigation, power distribution, robotics, factory automation, and medical diagnosis. The development of highly sensitive magnetic sensors usually requires complicated and costly fabrication process. Herein, we report giant magneto-impedance of 41036% in the commercially available ferrite core inductors. A magnetic field detection limit of 10 nT at 1 Hz has been obtained by directly measuring the impedance of the as-obtained inductor without any optimization. With a 100 pF capacitor in series connection with the inductor where lower impedance facilitates the measurement process, a limit of detection of 625 pT at 1 Hz has been obtained in the series RLC resonator. These results can be understood in terms of the magnetic field-dependent self-resonance in the inductors which act as lumped RLC resonators. Compared with the traditional electromagnetic induction sensing mode, the magneto-impedance sensing mode shows 5000 folds improvement in the magnetic field detection capability.

Automated summary

Magnetic sensors are widely used in various fields, but the development of highly sensitive sensors often requires complicated and costly fabrication processes. By measuring the impedance of commercially available ferrite core inductors, a significant improvement in magneto-impedance and a very low magnetic field detection limit have been achieved.