A magnetic sensor including a first magneto resistive effect element located on a first surface of a substrate and having a sensitivity axis in a first direction that is one of in-plane directions of the first surface, a positioning soft magnetic body including a first most proximal portion of which a relative position with respect to the magneto resistive effect element is defined, and provided in a non-contact manner with respect to the first magneto resistive effect element, and a first soft magnetic body and a second soft magnetic body juxtaposed in the first direction and extending in a direction away from the first surface, and each of the first soft magnetic body and the second soft magnetic body is magnetically connected to the positioning soft magnetic body.

An electronic device may be provided with an electronic compass. The electronic compass may include magnetic sensors. The magnetic sensors may include thin-film magnetic sensor elements such as giant magnetoresistance sensor elements. Magnetic flux concentrators may be used to guide magnetic fields through the sensor elements. To reduce offset in the electronic compass, the magnetic flux concentrators may be demagnetized by applying a current to a coil in the housing. The coil may be formed from loops of metal traces within a printed circuit or other loops of conductive paths. Magnetic flux concentrators may have ring shapes. A ring-shaped magnetic flux concentrator may be formed from multiple thin stacked layers of soft magnetic material separated by non-magnetic material.

In a magnetic sensor using sensitive circuits sensing magnetic fields by the magnetic impedance effect, a sensitivity-to-noise ratio is improved. A magnetic sensor 10 includes: a sensitive circuit 12A including sensitive parts sensing magnetic fields by magnetic impedance effect; and a sensitive circuit 12B including sensitive parts sensing magnetic fields by magnetic impedance effect, wherein at least a part of current paths of the sensitive circuit 12A and at least a part of current paths of the sensitive circuit 12B overlap in a plan view, and one end portion of the sensitive circuit 12A and one end portion of the sensitive circuit 12B are electrically connected.

An electrical current transducer is disclosed including a primary conductor bar for carrying the current to be measured, a magnetic core comprising a magnetic circuit gap, a magnetic field sensor having a circuit board and a magnetic field detector positioned in the magnetic circuit gap, and an insulating housing surrounding the magnetic core and magnetic field sensor. The primary conductor bar has connection terminal ends extending outside of the housing configured for connection to an external primary conductor. The primary conductor bar further includes a core passage section having a reduced width in comparison to the connection terminal ends extending outside of the housing thereby providing an indent within which the magnetic field detector is positioned such that a central passage of the magnetic core has a width less than the width of the primary conductor connection ends. The insulating housing comprises a main housing portion overmolded around the core passage section of the primary conductor bar, the main housing portion comprising a magnetic field sensor receiving slot configured to allow slideable insertion of the magnetic field sensor into the primary conductor bar indent for positioning in the magnetic circuit gap.

A magnetic field generator generates a detection-target magnetic field related to an angle to be detected. An angle sensor includes a first and a second magnetic sensor and a processor. The first magnetic sensor detects, at a first detection position, a first applied magnetic field including the detection-target magnetic field, and generates first detection information having a correspondence with the angle to be detected. The second magnetic sensor detects, at a second detection position, a second applied magnetic field including the detection-target magnetic field, and generates second detection information having a correspondence with the angle to be detected. The processor generates an angle detection value by performing arithmetic processing using the first and second detection information. The ratio of a strength of the detection-target magnetic field at the second detection position to a strength of the detection-target magnetic field at the first detection position is 1.65 or more.

A single-chip off-axis magnetoresistive Z-X angle sensor and measuring instrument. The single-chip off-axis magnetoresistive Z-X angle sensor comprises a substrate located on an X-Y plane, at least one X-axis magnetoresistive sensor and at least one Z-axis magnetoresistive sensor, the X-axis magnetoresistive sensor and the Z-axis magnetoresistive sensor being located on the substrate. The X-axis magnetoresistive sensor and the Z-axis magnetoresistive sensor each comprise magnetoresistive sensing units and a flux concentrator, the magnetoresistive sensing units being electrically connected into a magnetoresistive bridge comprising at least two bridge arms. The Z-axis magnetoresistive sensor is a push-pull bridge structure, a push arm and a pull arm of the push-pull bridge structure being respectively located at positions equidistant from a Y-axis central line of the flux concentrator. The X-axis magnetoresistive sensor is a reference bridge structure, a reference arm and a sensitive arm of the reference bridge structure being respectively located on the Y-axis central line of the flux concentrator and a position more than half of the width of the flux concentrator away from the Y-axis central line. The single-chip off-axis magnetoresistive Z-X angle sensor is placed at an edge of a circular permanent magnet encoding disc and forms an angle measuring instrument. Angle measurement is achieved by measuring X-axis and Z-axis magnetic field components, the structure is compact and sensitivity is high.

An integrated magnetoresistive sensor of an AMR (Anisotropic Magneto Resistance) type, formed by a magnetoresistive strip of ferromagnetic material and having an elongated shape with a preferential magnetization direction. A set/reset coil has a stretch, which extends over and transversely to the magnetoresistive strip. A concentrating region, also of ferromagnetic material, extends over the stretch of the set/reset coil so as to form a magnetic circuit for the field generated by the set/reset coil during steps of refresh and maintenance of magnetization of the magnetoresistive coil.

A magnetic sensor device includes a magnetic sensor detecting a detection-target magnetic field, and a soft magnetic structure near the sensor. In an orthogonal coordinate system having two orthogonal axes for representing an applied field strength and a magnetization-corresponding value, coordinates representing the applied field strength and the magnetization-corresponding value move along a minor loop not in contact with a major loop as the strength of an external magnetic field including the detection-target magnetic field varies within a variable range, where the applied field strength is a strength of a magnetic field applied to the soft magnetic structure, the magnetization-corresponding value is a value corresponding to magnetization of the soft magnetic structure, and the major loop is, among loops traced by a path of the coordinates as the applied field strength is varied, a loop that is the largest in terms of area of the region enclosed by the loop.

According to one embodiment, a magnetic sensor includes a first sensor part, and a conductive member. The first sensor part includes a first magnetic element, a first side magnetic part, and a first counter side magnetic part. The conductive member includes a first corresponding portion along the first magnetic element. The first magnetic element includes a first magnetic layer, a first counter magnetic layer, a direction from the first magnetic layer toward the first counter magnetic layer being along a first direction, and a first intermediate magnetic layer located between the first magnetic layer and the first counter magnetic layer. The first side magnetic part includes a first side magnetic layer. The first counter side magnetic part includes a first counter side magnetic layer. The first intermediate magnetic layer is between the first side magnetic layer and the first counter side magnetic layer in a second direction.

A measurement apparatus acquires actually-measured closed magnetic path curve data, actually-measured open magnetic path curve data, and a surface magnetic property value; calculates, for each divided region obtained by sectioning and dividing the permanent magnet, by using a function including a parameter that determines distribution of magnetic property of the permanent magnet, a magnetic property value of the divided region based on an internal magnetic property value extracted from the actually-measured closed magnetic path curve data and the surface magnetic property value; calculates estimated open magnetic path curve data indicating a magnetization curve of the permanent magnet, based on a magnetic property value and the actually-measured closed magnetic path curve data; changes a value of the parameter to minimize a magnetization difference between the actually-measured open magnetic path curve data and the estimated open magnetic path curve data; and outputs a magnetic property value of each of the divided regions.