Design, Fabrication, and Testing of a Modular Magnetic Field Microsensor on a Flexible Polymer Foil

In contrast to existing microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), this paper describes the development, fabrication, and testing of an anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) microsensor using a 7 μm thick polymer foil as substrate material. The modular magnetic field micro sensors are fabricated on a standard 4 in Si Wafer due to handling purposes during the sensor fabrication process. To enable a release of the micro sensors at the end of the fabrication process, initial investigations concentrated on the proof of principle applying a deep reactive-ion etching (DRIE) process to structure the Si wafer. The DRIE process was used to structure Si frames, which serve as carriers for the modular magnetic field micro sensors. For the evaluation of the fabricated modular magnetic field micro sensors, electrical resistance measurements were accomplished. The aim of these investigations was the characterization of the magnetic field dependence of the electrical resistance. The electrical output signal of the AMR sensors were subsequently compared to electrical resistance measurements of AMR sensors fabricated on a Si substrate and served as reference. The measurement results show a marginal effect of the substrate material on the characteristics of the AMR sensors.