The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Date of Patent:
Jan. 05, 2016

Filed:

Mar. 06, 2013
Applicant:

Crocus Technology Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);

Inventors:

Bertrand F. Cambou, Palo Alto, CA (US);

Douglas J. Lee, San Jose, CA (US);

Ken Mackay, Le Sappey en Chartreuse, FR;

Barry Hoberman, Cupertino, CA (US);

Assignee:

Crocus Technology Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01D 5/12 (2006.01); G01B 7/30 (2006.01); G01R 33/09 (2006.01); G01C 17/02 (2006.01); G01D 5/16 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G01D 5/12 (2013.01); G01B 7/30 (2013.01); G01C 17/02 (2013.01); G01D 5/16 (2013.01); G01R 33/096 (2013.01); G01R 33/098 (2013.01);
Abstract

An apparatus includes circuits, a field line configured to generate a magnetic field based on an input, a sensing module configured to determine a parameter of each circuit, and a magnetic field direction determination module configured to determine an angular orientation of the apparatus relative to an external magnetic field based on the parameter. Each circuit includes multiple magnetic tunnel junctions. Each magnetic tunnel junction includes a storage layer having a storage magnetization direction and a sense layer having a sense magnetization direction configured based on the magnetic field. Each magnetic tunnel junction is configured such that the sense magnetization direction and a resistance of the magnetic tunnel junction vary based on the external magnetic field. The parameter varies based on the resistances of the multiple magnetic tunnel junctions. The magnetic field direction determination module is implemented in at least one of a memory or a processing device.


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