Wide Band Low Noise Love Wave Magnetic Field Sensor System

We present a comprehensive study of a magnetic sensor system that benefits from a new technique to substantially increase the magnetoelastic coupling of surface acoustic waves (SAW). The device uses shear horizontal acoustic surface waves that are guided by a fused silica layer with an amorphous magnetostrictive FeCoSiB thin film on top. The velocity of these so-called Love waves follows the magnetoelastically-induced changes of the shear modulus according to the magnetic field present. The SAW sensor is operated in a delay line configuration at approximately 150 MHz and translates the magnetic field to a time delay and a related phase shift. The fundamentals of this sensor concept are motivated by magnetic and mechanical simulations. They are experimentally verified using customized low-noise readout electronics. With an extremely low magnetic noise level of ≈100 pT/ $$\sqrt{{\rm{Hz}}}$$ Hz , a bandwidth of 50 kHz and a dynamic range of 120 dB, this magnetic field sensor system shows outstanding characteristics. A range of additional measures to further increase the sensitivity are investigated with simulations.