基于MEMS硅基谐振器的磁场传感器最新进展

Review of magnetic field sensors based on MEMS silicon resonators

随着智能时代的到来,磁场传感器已经广泛应用于移动设备中,为用户提供定位和导航等服务。目前,基于霍尔效应的磁场传感器和基于磁性材料的磁阻式传感器是人们普遍采用的2种磁场检测传感器。基于霍尔效应的磁场传感器的优点是成本低,不需要外加磁性材料,且制作工艺和互补金属氧化物半导体(CMOS)工艺兼容。这种传感器的工作范围一般为10μT~1 T,并可以通过增加功耗的方式来提高分辨力。磁阻式磁场传感器拥有较高的分辨力和较宽的工作范围(0.1 nT~1 T),其性能主要取决于磁性材料。除了以上2种方式外,由硅基微机电系统(MEMS)谐振器构成的谐振式磁场传感器利用洛伦兹力对磁场的依赖性实现了对磁场的检测,具有体积小、功耗低、性能优异且与CMOS工艺兼容等优点,近年来受到研究人员的广泛关注。本文回顾了由MEMS硅基谐振器构成的磁场传感器的最新发展动态和性能提升方法,并总结了当前存在的关键挑战和未来机遇。

With the advent of the intelligent era,magnetic field sensors have been widely used in mobile devices to provide users with services such as positioning and navigation.At present,the magnetic field sensors based on Hall effect and the magnetoresistive magnetic field sensors which rely on magnetic materials are two dominant technologies in the market.The advantages of the magnetic field sensors based on the Hall effect include low cost,no need for magnetic materials and fabrication compatibility with the Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor(CMOS)technology.The operating range of this kind of sensors typically is from 10μT to 1 T,and the resolution can be improved by increasing the power consumption.Magnetoresistive magnetic field sensors have high resolution and wide operating range(0.1 nT~1 T),and their performances mainly depend on the magnetic materials adopted.Besides these two technologies,resonant magnetic field sensors composed of silicon-based Micro-Electro-Mechanical System(MEMS)resonators have received extensive attention in recent years due to their benefits of small form factor,low power consumption,high performance and fabrication compatibility with CMOS technology.This paper reviews the latest developments of magnetic field sensors using silicon-based MEMS resonators.In addition,methods for improving the performance of such sensors are described.The current key challenges and future opportunities are provided.