ISSN (Print) 1226-1750

ISSN (Online) 2233-6656

Journal of Magnetics 17(4), 308-315 (2012) [Link]

Enhancement of the Magnetic Flux in Metglas/PZT-Magnetoelectric

Integrated 2D Geomagnetic Device

D. T. Huong Giang, P. A. Duc, N. T. Ngoc, N. T. Hien, and N. H. Duc*

Department of Nano Magnetic Materials and Devices, Faculty of Engineering Physics and Nanotechnology, University of Engineering
and Technology, Vietnam National University, Hanoi E3 Building, 144 Xuan Thuy Road, Cau Giay, Hanoi, Vietnam

(Received 9 November 2012, Received in final form 28 November 2012, Accepted 29 November 2012)

Experimental investigations of the magnetization, magnetostriction and magnetoelectric (ME) effects were per-
formed on sandwich - type Metglas/PZT/Metglas laminate composites. The results have been analyzed by tak-
ing into account the demagnetization contribution. The study has pointed out that the magnetic flux
concentration is strongly improved in piezomagnetic laminates with a narrower width leading to a significant
enhancement of the ME effects. The piezomagnetic laminates with the optimal area dimension were integrated
to form a 2-D geomagnetic device, which simultaneously can precisely detect the strength as well as inclination
of the earth’s magnetic field. In this case, a magnetic field resolution of better than 10−4 Oe and an angle preci-
sion of ± 0.1o were determined. This simple and low-cost geomagnetic-field device is promising for various
applications.
Keywords : magnetoelectric effects, multiferroics, magnetic sensors, geomagnetic sensors, demagnetizing effects

1. Introduction have achieved an enhancement of the dc-magnetic-field

sensitivity of the ME sensor by using an elongated laminate
For the measurement of the terrestrial magnetic fields, shape [5]. This enhancement was thought to be related to
magnetoelectric (ME) effect - based sensors have recently the reduced demagnetization effects. Based on the results
attracted much attention [1-6]. In comparison with the obtained from finite element modeling studies, Gao et al.
traditional types of magnetic sensors, which are based on [11], Cui et al. [12], Wu et al. [13] and Fang et al. [14]
fluxgate, Hall effects, superconducting quantum interference have ascribed the above-mentioned phenomena to the
and giant magnetoresistance spin valves, etc. this gene- improved magnetic flux concentration in the ME laminates.
ration of new magnetic sensor exhibits higher sensitivity These results have demonstrated a meaningful approach
to the intensity as well as to the direction of the geomag- to significantly enhance the sensitivity of magnetostrictive/
netic field [1, 5]. Furthermore, this sensor shows additional piezoelectric laminates as geomagnetic field sensors. How-
advantages, such as simple and low-cost fabrication, and ever, more appropriate descriptions are still necessary in
in particular, room-temperature operation. Regarding these the models.
advantages, multiphase laminated ME composites have It is well known that both the strength and the inclin-
been intensively studied [7]. Strong efforts have been under- ation angle of the terrestrial magnetic field vary with the
taken to enhance the ME effects by altering the shape and geographic positions on the Earth and in the space.
the volume ratio of the piezoelectric/magnetostrictive Accordingly, appropriate geomagnetic-field sensors can
laminates [8] or by improving the lamination process [9]. be used in geographic orienting and positioning devices.
In such approaches, sandwich-type Metglas/PZT/Metglas The intention of our study is to develop this type of
laminate structures with long rectangular shapes, among sensor for sensing and directing the relative orientation
others, have exhibited a huge magnetoelectric voltage coeffi- between a geostationary satellite and mobile transceivers
cient (MEVC) of up to 22 V/cmOe [10]. Recently, we in order to automatically control the mobile transceivers’
antenna orientation with respect to the position of the
©The Korean Magnetics Society. All rights reserved. geostationary satellite. This study is an approach toward
*Corresponding author: Tel: +84437547771 improvement of the sensitivity to enable the ME device
Fax: +84437547429, e-mail: ducnh@[Link] accurately determining the space azimuth (ϕ) and pitch

© 2012 Journal of Magnetics

− 309 − Enhancement of the Magnetic Flux in Metglas/PZT-Magnetoelectric Integrated 2D Geomagnetic Device − D. T. Huong Giang et al.

(θ) angles with respects to the orientation of the Earth’s dE ∂E ∂λ

α E = ------- = ------ --------- ( 1 + Nχ m ) (4)
magnetic field. dH ∂λ ∂H 0
In this paper, the introduction shall be followed by a
lengthy magnetostatic analysis of the ME phenomena and Finally, taking account the size-induced demagnetizing
the role of the piezomagnetic coefficient in Section 2, field’s effect, the relative change in the MEVC of an ME
where the influence of the demagnetizing factor on the laminate can be derived as follows
MEVC will be described and considered. Section 3 deals
αE ( N ) 1
with the optimization of the low-field MEVC through --------------
- = ------------------- (5)
α E ( 0 ) 1 + Nχ m
experimental investigations of magnetization, magnetostric-
tion and ME effects. A design and the characterization of where α E(0) and α E(N) represent the intrinsic MEVC (as
the device prototype with a capability to detect both the N = 0) and the extrinsic MEVC (as N ≠ 0), respectively.
azimuth and pitch angles of the geomagnetic field will be From Eq. (5), we can see that, the MEVC of an ME
presented and discussed at the end of this section. Con- laminate composite is explicitly dependent on the (intrin-
cluding remarks shall be given in Section 4. sic) magnetic susceptibility (χm) and on the demagnetiz-
ing factor (N) of the magnetostrictive material. This
2. Magnetostatic Analyses of the Size-Induced implies that although the same magnetostrictive material
Demagnetization Effect on the MEVC is used, the MEVC still depends on the sample’s shape.
The sample with a large N, thus, will show a reduced the
The ME effect has been observed in multiferroics and/ magnetic flux density over the central portion of the mag-
or ferromagnetic-ferroelectric composites (hereafter denoted netic material and will exhibit a strongly reduced MEVC.
as ME materials). In these materials, a polarization P shall This finding was recently reported by several research
respond to an internal magnetic field H, whereas a groups [11-14]. In ref. [13], a detail but rather complex
magnetization M will respond to an internal electric field dependence on the dimensions as well as the magnetic
E. As a result, in applied magnetic fields, an ME sample permeability was reported. Although a simpler expression
shall undergo a polarization process that creates an could be found in [11], huge differences between the
electric field E = α E·H across the sample, where α E (=∂E/ modeling and the experimental results still remained. As
∂H) denotes MEVC. will be discussed below the present approach exhibits an
Considerable efforts have been undertaken to elaborate appropriate consistence with experimental investigations.
a phenomenological description of the MEVC (αE = ∂E/
∂H) [6, 11-17]. Although results are still diverse in details, 3. Experimental Results and Discussion
the MEVC can generally be expressed as:
dE ∂E ∂λ 3.1. ME laminate composite realization
α E = ------- = ------ ------- (1) The ME laminated composites for the magnetic-field
dH ∂λ ∂H
sensors were manufactured by bonding an out-of-plane
where λ represents the magnetostriction of the ferromag- poled piezoelectric PZT plate with magnetostrictive Metglas
netic phase and ∂λ/∂H is the so-called piezomagnetic laminates to form the sandwich Metglas/PZT/Metglas
coefficient of the material. configuration (see Fig. 1). The 500 mm thick PZT plate
Taking into account the contribution of the demagnetiz- used was of the Type APCC-855 from The American Piezo-
ing factor (N) and M as the sample magnetization, the ceramics Inc., PA, USA. The magnetostrictive laminates
internal magnetic field can be expressed in term of the with thickness of 18 µm were cut from Fe76.8Ni1.2B13.2Si8.8
external magnetic field (H0) as: (also called Ni-based Metglas) melt-spun ribbons with
different areas; the dimension of which is characterized
H = H 0 − NM (2) by the length/width ratio r (= L/W). In this work, the
sample’s length was fixed at 15 mm and the width varies
This leads to
from 0.1 to 15 mm.
H0
H = ------------------- (3) 3.2. Magnetic data and analyses
1 + Nχ m
Magnetization data were measured using a vibrating
with χm as the (intrinsic) magnetic susceptibility of the sample magnetometer in applied magnetic fields up to
material. ± 300 Oe. For illustration, however, in Fig. 2(a) are plotted
Consequently, Eq. (1) becomes only the data measured in low magnetic-field range for
Journal of Magnetics, Vol. 17, No. 4, December 2012 − 310 −

Fig. 1. SEM images at low (a) and high (b) magnification of the sandwich Metglas/PZT/Metglas laminate composite. Vectors hac
and P indicate the applied ac magnetic field and the electrical polarization direction, respectively. In (b) the Metglas and the adhe-
sive layer with the respective thickness of 18 µm and 7 µm are recognized.

the samples with the length/width ratio of r = 1, 15, 24, Metglas sample was derived from the measured values of
40 and 140, where all samples noteworthy show the same the extrinsic magnetic susceptibility. The obtained results
saturation magnetization of 1950 emu/cm3. Moreover, as are presented in Fig. 3(a) as a plot of Nexp vs r. On the
can be seen from the figure, the low magnetic field magneti- other hand, for comparison, the demagnetizing factor can
zation slope strongly varies with r. This phenomenon is also be directly calculated from the sample dimension
simply correlated with the sample’s different demagnetiz- parameters (i.e. its length, width and thickness) by using
ing factors N. The derived magnetic susceptibility data the software proposed in [18]. The calculated results are
presented in Fig. 2(b) strongly confirm this argument. The also shown in Fig. 3(d), again as a plot of Ntheory vs r. As
Ni-based Metglas is already known as a super-soft mag- can be read from these results, the dimensions-based cal-
netic material. For the longest sample under the present culated Ntheory value is almost three times larger than the
study (i.e. the sample with r = 140), the measured initial experimentally derived Nexp one. Note that, the simulation
(extrinsic) magnetic susceptibility reached a value as high on the relative change in the MEVC using Eq. (5) with
as χ0 = 2326 emu, but we believe that this value is still far Nexp shows a better consistency with the observed MEVC
below the intrinsic one. values than those with Ntheo. This implies that an adequate
As will be shown below, the ME investigations were theoretical approximation of the demagnetizating factor N
mainly focused on the samples with r = 1, 2, 3, 5, 7.5 and for the thin square shaped samples still needs a more
15. The demagnetizing factor and its effect on the MEVC appropriate detailed description. Indeed, it was already
can be taken into account for by using the formula N = 1/ warned in [19] that N is not a constant inside any mag-
χ0 – 1/χm. For this range of r, one should realize that 1/χm netized sample that is not an ellipsoid and that a large
is (at least) about two order of magnitude smaller than disparity in different approximations of N is due to the
1/χ0, so that it can be neglected in this consideration. square shape and small aspect ratio of thin samples.
Based on this assumption, the demagnetizing factor of a Using the values as obtained for N in Eq. (5), the MEVC

Fig. 2. Magnetization (a) and magnetic susceptibility (b) as a function of applied magnetic fields of ME laminates of different
length/width ratios.
− 311 − Enhancement of the Magnetic Flux in Metglas/PZT-Magnetoelectric Integrated 2D Geomagnetic Device − D. T. Huong Giang et al.

Fig. 3. Experimentally derived Nexp (a), calculated Ntheory (d) demagnetization factors (see in the text) and corresponding normal-
ized MEVC, calculated by using Eq. (5) as a function of the length/width ratio r = L/W for all samples under investigations (b, e)
and for samples under MEVC consideration only (c, f).

values, normalized to α E(r)/α E(r = 1), in different applied the demagnetizing factor Nexp is found to increase by 2.6
magnetic fields of 1, 2, 5 and 10 Oe were determined. times, whereas that simulated using the Ntheory yields an
The results are shown in Figs. 3(b) and 3(e), correspond- increase of 1.3 times only (see Figs. 3(e) and 3(f)). This
ing to Nexp and Ntheory, respectively. Note that, the results, finding is in reasonable consistency with the observed
also normalized to α E(r)/α E(r = 1), from the simulation MEVC values presented in Subsection 3.4 below.
performed with the experimentally estimated values Nexp
show a stronger variation than those from the simulation 3.3. Magnetostriction and magnetostrictive suscepti-
performed with the theoretically calculated Ntheory. For bility
instance, as the length/width ratio r increases from 1 to Figure 4(a) shows the magnetostriction data in applied
15, the MEVC value at the field H = 1 Oe simulated using magnetic fields up to ± 120 Oe measured using an optical

Fig. 4. Magnetostriction (a) and magnetostrictive susceptibility (b) data for samples with r = 1 and 15.
Journal of Magnetics, Vol. 17, No. 4, December 2012 − 312 −

deflectometer for the two samples with r = 1 and 15,

respectively. The magnetostriction reaches its saturation
value of 60 × 10−6 in the sample with r = 15. Similar to
magnetization data, the effect of the demagnetization is
well demonstrated. Accordingly, the magnetostrictive sus-
ceptibility (or the piezomagnetic coefficient) χl (= ∂/∂H0)
was derived and presented in Fig. 4(b). Beside the
information on the magnetoelastic properties of the ME
samples, the results obtained directly indicate the size-
induced demagnetization effect on the piezomagnetic
coefficient. For the sample with r = 15, χl initially increases
rather fast in the low magnetic-field range and reaches the
maximum at H0 of about 9 Oe. For the sample with r = 1, Fig. 5. MEVC as a function of the bias magnetic field for the
however, χl initially increases much slower, reaches the sandwich Metglas/PZT/Metglas laminate composites with
maximum only at about 20 Oe and slower decreases with different r of 1, 5 and 15.
further increasing field.

3.4. ME effects the further increasing magnetic field. It is apparent that

In the ME laminate composites configuration as shown although the maximal MEVC is significantly unchanged,
in Fig. 1, due to the mechanical coupling between the the MEVC behavior is strongly influenced by the sample
components, the PZT plate shall undergo a forced strain shape: the smaller the width (W), the lower the optimal
which is induced by the magnetostrictive layers under the magnetic field and the higher the initial slope at low
in-plane applied magnetic field. The ME voltage response magnetic fields is found for the MEVC α E(H) curves.
(MEVR) VME to this forced strain is subsequently induced Indeed, the optimal magnetic field for the maximal ME
across the thickness of the piezoelectric plate (tPZT). In the response decreases from 21 Oe in the sample with r = 1
present investigation, a linear electric polarization P is down to 7 Oe in the one with r = 15. Simultaneously, the
induced by a weak ac magnetic field hac (= hosin(2πfot)) initial slope at low magnetic fields of the aE(H) curves
oscillating at the resonant frequency in the presence of a increases from 12.5 to 31.2 V/(cm·Oe2), respectively.
dc bias field H0 and so the MEVR can be measured and The ME effect indeed is a multiple combination effect.
considered as a direct response of the ME composite to The variation of α E, in details, is interestingly not fully
the applied magnetic field. In the experimental setup, the described by the piezomagnetic coefficient (χ l) as expect-
bias field H0 was provided by an electromagnet, and the ed. It is furthermore covered by the magnetoelastic energy
oscillating field with amplitudes of hac = 10−2 Oe was (i.e. depending on λ), which is transferred from the
generated by a Helmholtz coil. The MEVR output induced magnetostrictive phase into the piezoelectric plate and by
across the PZT layer of the ME laminate by the ac field other piezoelectric parameters. The observed behavior of
(hac) was measured on a commercial DSP lock-in amplifier α E (with respect to the bias magnetic field) follows rather
(Model 7265, Signal Recovery), which simultaneously well that of χλ , reflecting the fact that the piezomagnetic
controlled the input current to the Helmholtz coil. The coefficient mainly governs the ME properties of the material.
value of the MEVC (α E) was then derived from the equa- Figs. 6(a, b) show the plots of α E(r) and α E(r)/α E(r = 1)
tion: α E = VME /[Link]. as a function of r, representing the ME data measured in
Figure 5 shows the bias magnetic-field dependence of applied fields of 1, 2, 5 and 10 Oe in order to prove a
the longitudinal MEVC output measured at the resonant possible correlation between the observed ME effect behavior
frequency ( fr = 99.6 kHz) for sandwich laminate compo- and the role of the demagnetizing effect as already dis-
sites of different sizes as 15 × 15, 15 × 3 and 15 × 1 mm2, cussed above. Note that, the highest MEVC (α E) was
corresponding to the respective length/width ratios of r = always reached in the sample with r = 15, i.e. the sample
1, 5 and 15. As can be seen, for all samples the MEVC with the largest length to width ratio. Moreover, as the
exhibits a similar behavior as already observed for the length to width ratio r of the ME laminates increases from
piezeomagnetic coefficient: it initially increases at low 1 to 15, the observed MEVC is found to increase by 4.4,
applied magnetic fields, reaches a maximum value at a 3.4 and 0.2 times in the corresponding applied magnetic
certain magnetic field (denoted as the optimal field Hmax fields of 1, 2 and 10 Oe, respectively. This relative change
for the maximal ME response) and then decreases with is comparably consistent to that predicted from the magneto-
− 313 − Enhancement of the Magnetic Flux in Metglas/PZT-Magnetoelectric Integrated 2D Geomagnetic Device − D. T. Huong Giang et al.

Fig. 6. Experimental data of MEVC (a) and normalized MEVC (b) as a function of the length/width ratio r at different Hdc of 1, 2,
5 and 10 Oe.

static analysis discussed above. Quantitatively, the relative

increase in the observed MEVC found here is rather close
to that obtained from the simulation performed with the
experimentally estimated Nexp values (see e.g. Fig. 3(e) and
Fig. 6(b)). Nevertheless, both the magnetostatic analysis
and the experimental investigations have confirmed that
the elongated Metglas shape plays a significant role on
the enhancement of the magnetic flux concentration in ME
laminate sensors. As regard the sensitivity to the magnetic
field in the low field range, the sample with the configu-
ration of 15 × 1 mm2 obviously indicate to reach the Fig. 7. (Color online) 1-D and 2-D ME sensor prototypes fab-
ricated from sandwich Metglas/PZT/Metglas 15 × 1 mm2 lam-
optimization of all influencing factors. As a conclusion of
inates composite.
this subsection, this 15 × 1 mm2 laminate was chosen for
a geomagnetic sensor prototype realization.

3.5. Geomagnetic sensor prototype

Regarding an appropriate application of the ME laminate
composite configuration for the determination of the azimuth
(ϕ) and the pitch (θ) angles with respect to the orientation
of the Earth’s magnetic field, the angle dependence of the
MEVR is in close details studied. For this purpose, a func-
tional 2-D ME sensor prototype was fabricated. In this
case, firstly, a solenoid coil was directly wrapped around
the ME laminate composites to form the 1-D sensor. The
2-D geomagnetic-field sensor is then created by assembling
the two as-prepared 1-D sensors S1 and S2 along two ortho-
gonal axes. The photograph of the 2-D sensor prototype
fabricated using an ME laminates with optimal rectan-
gular size of 15 × 1 mm2 is shown in Fig. 7. Fig. 8. The MEVR depending on the magnetic fields of the
The MEVR characteristics of the S1 and S2 sensors are ME sensor prototypes. The inset shows the MEVR data at
very small magnetic-field range.
shown in Fig. 8. The figures obviously indicate a linear
variation of ME-voltage with the external magnetic field
in the field range of interest. From this result, it turns out orders of magnitude higher than that previously reported
that the magnetic field calibration coefficient k of the for similar magnetic-sensor devices and is comparable with
sensor can be derived as k1 = 308.2 and k2 = 310.7 mV/ that of available commercial geomagnetic sensors [20].
Oe corresponding to the field resolution of 3 × 10−4 Oe for The horizontal component of the Earth’s magnetic field
the S1 and S2 sensors, respectively. This sensitivity is two strength is sensed by rotating the 2-D sensor in the Earth
Journal of Magnetics, Vol. 17, No. 4, December 2012 − 314 −

surface’s (horizontal) plane. A fixed geocentric reference ponents, can be determined using the following expression:
frame is chosen, in which the XE-axis points toward the
2 2
magnetic North pole, the YE axis points toward the East H xy = ( H1 + H2 ) (6)
pole and the ZE-axis is vertical and positive towards the
Earth’s center (see Fig. 9(a)). Here, the azimuth angle is It turns out in this experiment that the strength of the
defined as a horizontal angle clockwise measured from horizontal terrestrial magnetic-field Hxy in our laboratory
XE-axis to the S1-sensor. The output offset-compensated (located in Hanoi, Vietnam) is in the order of 0.3997 Oe.
signals V1 and V2 from the two respective sensors S1 and The pitch angle is determined as the angle between the
S2 as a function of the azimuth angle are plotted in Fig. S1-sensor and the horizon by clockwise rotating the 2-D
9(b-c). It is clearly seen that by rotating the device from ϕ sensor around the XE-axis, i.e. in the vertical planes as
= 0 to 360°, the recorded sensor signals vary well periodi- illustrated in Fig. 10(a). In this case, the obtained signals
cally with the angle ϕ, in which V1 = V1max·cosϕ and V2 = V1 and V2 from the two sensors S1 and S2 are shown in
-V2max·sinϕ with V1max = 123.2 mV and V2max = 124.2 mV Fig. 10(b). They correspond well to the harmonic sine and
for the S1 and S2 sensors, respectively. The derived data cosine functions of the pitch angle θ. The maximum values
for H2 (= V2/k2) vs H1 (= V1/k1) corresponding to the of 61.4 and 61.9 mV for the sensors S1 and S2, respective-
horizontal Earth’s magnetic field components are plotted ly, were always reached when the sensor axis is pointing
in the 2-D parametric plot (Fig. 9(c)) fitting a perfect vertically upward (i.e. along the ZE-axis).
circle. In this description, the radius of this circle, i.e. the The derived data on the intensity of the Earth magnetic-
intensity of the horizontal terrestrial magnetic-field com- field components H1 and H2 presented in the 2-D para-

Fig. 9. (Color online) Illustration of the azimuth angle (ϕ) from the magnetic North pole (XE-axis) to the S1-sensor by rotating the
2-D sensor in a horizontal plane (a), MEVR of V1 (open triangles) and V2 (open circles) vs ϕ-angle, plotted in the Cartesian coor-
dinate system (b) and the derived data for H2 (= V2/k2) vs H1 (= V1/k1), plotted in 2-D parametric plot.

Fig. 10. (Color online) Illustration of the pitch angle between the S1-sensor and the horizon plane in the clockwise rotation of the
2-D sensor around the XE-axis (a), MEVR of V1 and V2 plotted in the Cartesian coordinate system (b) and the derived data H1 (=
V1/k1) vs H2 (= V2/k2) plotted in 2-D parametric plot.
− 315 − Enhancement of the Magnetic Flux in Metglas/PZT-Magnetoelectric Integrated 2D Geomagnetic Device − D. T. Huong Giang et al.

metric plot (see Fig. 10(c)) again fit in an almost perfect under the Research Project Number [Link].
circle. From these data, the vertical terrestrial magnetic-field
(Hz) component can be determined using the expression: References
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Acknowledgements cIGRFWMM.

This work was supported by the NAFOSTED of Vietnam