Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR) Sensors: From Basis to State-of-the-Art Applications (Smart Sensors, Measurement and Instrumentation (6))

Since the discovery of the giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect in 1988, __spintronics__ has been presented as a new technology paradigm, awarded by the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2007. Initially used in read heads of hard disk drives, and while disputing a piece of the market to the flash memories, GMR devices have broadened their range of usage by growing towards magnetic field sensing applications in a huge range of scenarios. Potential applications at the time of the discovery have become real in the last two decades. Definitively, GMR was born to stand. In this sense, selected successful approaches of GMR based sensors in different applications: space, automotive, microelectronics, biotechnology ... are collected in the present book. While keeping a practical orientation, the fundamentals as well as the current trends and challenges of this technology are also analyzed. In this sense, state of the art contributions from academy and industry can be found through the contents. This book can be used by starting researchers, postgraduate students and multidisciplinary scientists in order to have a reference text in this topical fascinating field. Front Matter....Pages 1-11 Spintronic Phenomena: Giant Magnetoresistance, Tunnel Magnetoresistance and Spin Transfer Torque....Pages 1-30 Microfabrication Techniques....Pages 31-45 Noise in GMR and TMR Sensors....Pages 47-70 Resistive Sensor Interfacing....Pages 71-102 GMR Based Sensors for IC Current Monitoring....Pages 103-131 GMR Sensors in Automotive Applications....Pages 133-156 Compass Applications Using Giant Magnetoresistance Sensors (GMR)....Pages 157-180 Commercial Off-The-Shelf GMR Based Sensor on Board Optos Picosatellite....Pages 181-210 High-Spatial Resolution Giant Magnetoresistive Sensors - Part I: Application in Non-Destructive Evaluation....Pages 211-241 High-Spatial Resolution Giant Magnetoresistive Sensors - Part II: Application in Biomedicine....Pages 243-273 Magnetoresistive Sensors for Surface Scanning....Pages 275-299 Back Matter....Pages 301-301 Presents applications of GMR based sensing approaches in the fields of protein sequentiation, brain activity detection, electrical current sensing, or traffic monitoring