Abstract
This paper describes a MEMS-based micro-fluxgate magnetic sensing element using Ni$\_$0.8/Fe$\_$0.2/ film formed by electroplating. The micro-fluxgate magnetic sensor composed of a thin film magnetic core and micro-structure solenoids for the pick-up and the excitation coils, is developed by using MEMS technologies in order to take advantage of low-cost, small size and lower power consumption in the fabrication. A copper with 20${\mu}$m width and 3${\mu}$m thickness is electroplated on Cr (300${\AA}$) / Au (1500${\AA}$) films for the pick-up (42turn) and the excitation (24turn) coils. In order to improve the sensitivity of the sensing element, we designed the magnetic core into a rectangular-ring shape to reduce the magnetic flux leakage. An electroplated permalloy film with the thickness of 3${\mu}$m is obtained under 2000 gauss to induce magnetic anisotropy. The magnetic core has the high DC effective permeability of ~1,100 and coercive field of ~0.1 Oe. The fabricated sensing element using rectangular-ring shaped magnetic film has the sensitivity of about 150 V/T at the excitation frequency of 2 MHz and the excitation voltage of 4.4 V$\_$p p/. The power consumption is estimated to be 50mW.