Patent ID: 9678178
Date: 2017-06-13
CPC Classifications: G01R

Claim:
1. A magnetoresistive magnetic field gradiometer sensor, comprising a multiplicity of magnetoresistive arms connected to form a magnetoresistive bridge, wherein each of the multiplicity of the magnetoresistive arms includes one or more magnetoresistive elements, wherein the magnetoresistive elements for all of the magnetoresistive arms that form the magnetoresistive bridge have substantially equal transfer curves to provide substantially equal sensitivities to an applied magnetic field, wherein each of the magnetoresistive elements within the magnetoresistive bridge has a magnetic pinning layer with a magnetic moment aligned in the same direction, permanent magnets operatively positioned with respect to the magnetoresistive arms to generate a bias magnetic field to zero an offset of the transfer curve of each of the magnetoresistive elements, a semiconductor substrate on which the magnetoresistive bridge and the permanent magnets are deposited, a wire bond pad used to electrically interconnect the magnetoresistive magnetic field gradiometer sensor to an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chip or to a terminal of a package lead frame by bond wires.