Electroplating a magnetic core for micro fluxgate sensor

A square-ring shaped micro fluxgate sensor, which was designed for measuring two axes weak magnetic field at the same time, was fabricated using MEMS technologies. To get better magnetic properties, Ni/Fe permalloy was selected to be the materials of magnetic core which was fabricated by DC-electroplating method with several micron thickness. Saccharine was added into the electrolyte to reduce the internal stress, and its influence on magnetic properties was studied. The results show that magnetic properties are related to the crystalline phase transition in the deposition which varied with saccharine content. With 3 g/L saccharine in the electrolyte, a film with low coercive force and high saturation magnetization relatively was obtained and some characters of the sensor were also discussed in the paper.