Demonstration of Fully Integrable Long-Range Microposition Detection with Wafer-Level Embedded Micromagnets

A fully integrable magnetic microposition detection for miniaturized systems like MEMS devices is demonstrated. Whereas current magnetic solutions are based on the use of hybrid mounted magnets, here a combination of Hall sensors with a novel kind of wafer-level integrable micromagnet is presented. 1D measurements achieve a precision <10 µm within a distance of 1000 µm. Three-dimensional (3D) measurements demonstrate the resolution of complex trajectories in a millimeter-sized space with precision better than 50 µm in real time. The demonstrated combination of a CMOS Hall sensor and wafer-level embedded micromagnets enables a fully integrable magnetic position detection for microdevices such as scanners, switches, valves and flow regulators, endoscopes or tactile sensors.