A method of fabricating a shape-changeable magnetic member comprising a plurality of segments with each segment being able to be magnetized with a desired magnitude and orientation of magnetization, to a method of producing a shape changeable magnetic member composed of a plurality of segments and to a shape changeable magnetic member.

The present invention provides a magnetostrictive member with high performance, high reliability and high versatility. The magnetostrictive member is used in the vibration power generation as a power source for extracting electric energy from various vibrations. The member made of the single crystal is manufactured cheaper than the conventional manufacturing method. The magnetostrictive member is formed by cutting a single crystal of Fe—Ga alloy by using electric discharge machining in a state that <100>orientation of the crystal of the Fe—Ga alloy is aligned in a direction in which magnetostriction of the magnetostrictive member is required.

Methods of etching metal by depositing a material reactive with a metal to be etched and a halogen to form a volatile species and exposing the substrate to a halogen-containing gas and activation gas to etch the substrate are provided. Deposited materials may include silicon, germanium, titanium, carbon, tin, and combinations thereof. Methods are suitable for fabricating MRAM structures and may involve integrating ALD and ALE processes without breaking vacuum.

To reduce the construction effort and also to make it smaller, the detector coil (6) is formed in the detector head (7) of a magnetostrictive position sensor (100) in a semiconductor chip (2), in which at the same time also the evaluation circuit (16) is formed and—if biased electrically and by means of direct current—also the then necessary separate bias coil (18).

A method of fabricating a shape-changeable magnetic member comprising a plurality of segments with each segment being able to be magnetized with a desired magnitude and orientation of magnetization, to a method of producing a shape changeable magnetic member composed of a plurality of segments and to a shape changeable magnetic member.

The present invention relates to a heterostructure, in particular, a piezoelectric structure, comprising a cover layer, in particular, a layer of piezoelectric material, the material of the cover layer having a first coefficient of thermal expansion, assembled to a support substrate, the support substrate having a second coefficient of thermal expansion substantially different from the first coefficient of thermal expansion, at an interface wherein the cover layer comprises at least a recess extending from the interface into the cover layer, and its method of fabrication.

A method for manufacturing a magnetostrictive torque sensor shaft (100) to which a sensor portion (2) of a magnetostrictive torque sensor (1) is to be attached includes: a heat treatment step of subjecting an iron-based shaft member to a carburizing, quenching, and tempering process; a shot peening step of performing shot peening using a steel shot media having a Vickers hardness at least equal to 1100 and at most equal to 1300, at least in a position on the shaft member, after the heat treatment step, to which the sensor portion (2) is to be attached; and a surface polishing step of subjecting the shaft member after the shot peening to surface polishing.

A semiconductor device includes a first magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) and a second MTJ on a substrate, a passivation layer on the first MTJ and the second MTJ, and an ultra low-k (ULK) dielectric layer on the passivation layer. Preferably, a top surface of the passivation layer between the first MTJ and the second MTJ is lower than a top surface of the passivation layer directly on top of the first MTJ.

A magneto-electric converter capable of converting a variation in magnetic field into a potential difference between two electrical terminals includes a support layer comprising two electrical terminals; a stack disposed on the support layer of a first layer made from a magnetostrictive material defining the reference plane and of a second layer made from a piezoelectric material having a polarization axis in the plane defined by the second layer, parallel to the reference plane; the second layer comprising electrodes; and a means for electrical connection of the electrodes to the electrical terminals.

A method of manufacturing a magnetostrictive torque sensor shaft (100) to which a sensor portion (2) of a magnetostrictive torque sensor (1) is mounted. The method includes heat treatment step of subjecting an iron-based shaft member to a carburizing, quenching, and tempering process, and a shot peening step of performing shot peening using a steel shot media having a Vickers hardness at least equal to 1100 and at most equal to 1300 and being free of boron, at least in a position on the shaft member, after the heat treatment step, to which the sensor portion is to be attached.