Honeywell International Inc.

Lakshman Withanawasam

Hong Wan

Bharat B Pant

Ryan W Rieger

Ronald James Jensen

Daniel A McCarthy

Bharat Pant

A solid state magnetic sensor for sensing magnetic information on a magnetic track is provided. The solid state magnetic sensor includes at least one half of a Wheatstone bridge including at least two legs, each of the at least two legs including at least a portion of a strip of magnetic material, and barber pole nonmagnetic shorting bars arranged on the portions of the strip forming the at least two legs of the at least one half of the Wheatstone bridge. An inner gap between parallel and adjacent strips of a respective at least two legs is on the order of a transition length on the magnetic track to be sensed.

Anisotropic magneto-resistance (AMR) gradiometer/magnetometer to read a magnetic track

A method to measure an applied magnetic field in a plane is provided. The method includes simultaneously applying a first and second alternating drive current to a respective first and second strap overlaying a magnetoresistive sensor so the magnetoresistive sensor is subjected to a periodically rotating magnetic drive field rotating in the plane in the magnetoresistive sensor. When the applied magnetic field to be measured is superimposed on the periodically rotating magnetic drive field rotating in the plane, the method includes extracting a second harmonic component of an output voltage output from the magnetoresistive sensor. The magnitude of the magnetic field to be measured in the plane is proportional to an amplitude of the extracted second harmonic component of the output voltage. The orientation of the magnetic field to be measured in the plane is related to a phase angle of the extracted second harmonic component of the output voltage.

Apparatus and method for determining in-plane magnetic field components of a magnetic field using a single magnetoresistive sensor

Systems and methods for fabricating a multi-axis sensor are provided. In one implementation, a method comprises: fabricating a first die having a first active surface with first application electronics; fabricating a second die having a second active surface with second application electronics and a plurality of electrical connections that extend from the second application electronics to a side surface interface of the second die that is adjacent to the second active surface; aligning the side surface interface to be coplanar with the first active surface; and forming at least one electrical connection between the plurality of electrical connections and the first active surface.

Systems and methods for three dimensional sensors

Systems and methods for three-axis sensor chip packages are provided. In one embodiment, a directional sensor package comprises: a base; a first sensor die mounted to the base, the first sensor die having a first active sensor circuit and a first plurality of metal pads electrically coupled to the first active sensor circuit; a second sensor die mounted to the base, the second sensor die having a second active sensor circuit located on a first surface, and a second plurality of metal pads electrically coupled to the second active sensor circuit located on a second surface. The second sensor die is positioned such that the second active sensor circuit is oriented orthogonally with respect to the first active sensor circuit region and is perpendicular to the base. The second surface is adjacent to the first surface and angled with respect to a plane of the first surface.

Systems and methods for three-axis sensor chip packages

An integrated sensor device is provided. The integrated sensor device comprises a first substrate including a surface portion and a second substrate coupled to the surface portion of the first substrate in a stacked configuration, wherein a cavity is defined between the first substrate and the second substrate. The integrated sensor device also comprises one or more micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) sensors located at least partially in the first substrate, wherein the MEMS sensor communicates with the cavity. The integrated sensor device further comprises one or more additional sensors.

Integrated micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) sensor device

A method of fabricating a vertically mountable integrated circuit (IC) package is presented. An integrated circuit is mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB) and electrically coupled to a bond pad on the PCB. The bond pad is coupled with a via that is embedded in the PCB. The IC, the bond pad, the via, and a portion of the PCB are singulated in order to create a vertically mountable IC package. The via is cut through cross-sectionally during singulation so as to expose a portion of the via and thereby provide a mountable area for the IC package. The IC package may be encapsulated or housed in a dielectric material. In addition, the via may be treated with a preservative or other s-uitable electroless metal plating deposition that prevents oxidation and promotes solderability.

Method of fabricating a vertically mountable IC package

A magnetometer is disclosed that enables high resolution magnetometry using magnetoresistive sensors that consume less power. The magnetometer exploits the ability of the sensor to alter or modulate sensitivity via external means. This modulation effectively transfers the signal of interest from the noisy DC domain to the AC domain by applying an AC signal to a current strap in a magnetic field sensor. The AC signal causes a first magnetic field to be formed in a direction perpendicular to the current strap. A magnetic field sensing structure in the magnetic field sensor senses the first magnetic field. The magnetic field sensing structure uses the first magnetic field to sense a second magnetic field. The second magnetic field is an external magnetic field that is of interest. An output of the magnetic field sensing structure is an AC signal that is proportional to the second magnetic field. The AC signal may be further amplified and refined employing signal conditioning techniques.

High resolution and low power magnetometer using magnetoresistive sensors

A 360-degree magnetoresistive rotary position sensor comprises a magnetic linear sensor and a magnetic angular sensor, formed on a semiconductor substrate. The linear sensor detects a sense of a magnetic field, and the angular sensor detects an angular position of the magnetic field up to 180-degrees. With the linear sensor indicating that a positive sense of the magnetic field is detected, the angular sensor detects a first 180-degrees of angular position. With the linear sensor indicating that a negative sense of the magnetic field is detected, the angular sensor detects a second 180-degrees of angular position. As a result, the position sensor detects a full 360 degrees of rotation.

360-Degree magnetoresistive rotary position sensor

A method and system for calibrating a magnetic compass and/or verifying a compass calibration, using a calibration magnetic field produced by a field-generating coil within the magnetic compass is described. The field-generating coil is located near magnetometers within the magnetic compass. Passing a self-trimming current through the coil produces a magnetic field that acts on the magnetometers. Samples of an output signal from each magnetometer are taken to obtain digital values that indicate the output signal from each magnetometer. The digital values are used by a processor to determine one or more calibration coefficient for using calibrating the magnetic compass. The samples of the output signals are taken when a self-trimming current is passing through the coil and when the self-trimming current is not passing through the coil. Calibration of the compass occurs by applying the one or more calibration coefficients to subsequent signals that indicate the output signals of one or more of the magnetometers.

Method and system for electronic compass calibration and verification

A spin valve GMR sensor configured in a bridge configuration is provided. The bridge includes two spin valve element pairs. The spin valve elements include a free layer, a space layer, a pinned layer, and a bias layer. The bias layer includes a first bias layer and a second bias layer. The first and second spin valve element pairs are formed on separate metal layers and a current pulse is applied to the metal layers, which sets the direction of magnetization in the pinned layer of the first pair of spin valve elements to be antiparallel to the direction of magnetization in the pinned layer of the second pair of spin valve elements. The same effect can be accomplished by making the pinned layer substantially thicker than the second bias layer in the first spin valve element pair and the pinned layer is substantially thinner than the second bias layer in the second spin valve element pair and applying a magnetic field to the first and the second spin valve element pairs.

System and method for fixing a direction of magnetization of pinned layers in a magnetic field sensor

Magnetic field sensor

A method and system is presented for acquiring calibration data for a three-axis electronic compass by positioning and rotating the compass so that each sensitive axis in the compass experiences variation in the magnetic field while rotating the compass. Acquiring the calibration data occurs by measuring output signals that reflect the magnetic fields acting on the electronic compass while rotating the compass. Positioning of the compass includes moving the compass so that at least one of the sensitive axes travels a path that approximately forms a cone when the compass is rotated around a gravity vector. Calibration data from three sensitive axes experiencing variation in the magnetic field is available during a single rotation of the compass.

Method and system for acquiring calibration data for an electronic compass

An integrated dual-purpose sensor is shown. The dual-purpose sensor in one embodiment of the present invention includes a full Wheatstone bridge or a half Wheatstone bridge providing two output measurements. Specifically, the Wheatstone bridge provides two output measurements that are utilized to determine a temperature sensor reading and a magnetic sensor reading.

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Maple Grove, MN, United States of America

Lakshman Withanawasam