High Resolution Magnetometer Based on a High Frequency Magnetoelectric MEMS-CMOS Oscillator

This paper demonstrates a miniaturized and high resolution (16 nT/Hz^1/2) magnetometer based on a high frequency (168.1 MHz) magnetoelectric Microelectromechanical Systems-Complementary metal-oxidesemiconductor (MEMSCMOS) oscillator. For the first time, a high frequency and high electromechanical performance (quality factor, Q ~ 1084 and electromechanical coupling coefficient, k_t² ~ 1.18%) magnetoelectric micromechanical resonator based on a self-biased aluminum nitride/iron-gallium-boron (AlN/FeGaB) bilayer nanoplate (250/250 nm) is implemented and used to synthesize a low noise frequency source (2.7 Hz/Hz^1/2) whose output frequency is highly sensitive to external magnetic field (169 Hz/μT at zero magnetic field bias). The angular sensitivity of the magnetometer for electronic compass applications is also investigated showing an ultrahigh angular resolution of 0.34° for a 10-μT conservative estimate of the earth´s magnetic field, due to the strongly anisotropic sensitivity of the self-biased AlN/FeGaB magnetoelectric resonator. This paper represents the first demonstration of a high resolution self-biased MEMS magnetoelectric resonant sensor interfaced to a compact and low power self-sustained CMOS oscillator as direct frequency readout for the implementation of miniaturized and low power magnetometers with detection limit pushed in ~10s nT/Hz^1/2 range.