Atomic layered materials for giant magnetoresistive sensor

摘要

An apparatus and method for detecting a magnetic field has been described incorporating a material (82) which switches from an antiferromagnetic order to a ferromagnetic order upon the application of a magnetic field and wherein the material is FeRh, FeRu, FePd or MnPt, a heating (89,92) element for controlling the temperature of the material and a current source (78) for sensing the change of resistance of the material to determine when the material is ferromagnetically ordered. The invention overcomes the problem of small changes in resistance of magnetoresistive sensors operating in only the ferromagnetic order.