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1. INTRODUCTION
Couplers, also known as "isolators" because they electrically isolate as well as transmit data, are widely used in industrial and factory networks, instruments, and telecommunications. Every one knows the problems with optocouplers. They take up a lot of space, are slow, optocouplers age and their temperature range is quite limited. For years, optical couplers were the only option. Over the years, most of the components used to build instrumentation circuits have become ever smaller. Optocoupler technology, however, hasnt kept up. Existing coupler technologies look like dinosaurs on modern circuit boards. Magnetic couplers are analogous to optocouplers in a number of ways. Design engineers, especially in instrumentation technology, will welcome a galvanically isolated data coupler with integrated signal conversion in a single IC. My report will give a detailed study about ISOLOOP MAGNETIC COUPLERS.
3. GALVANIC COUPLERS
Optocouplers transmit signals by means of light through a bulk dielectric that provides galvanic isolation (see Figure 1).Magnetic couplers are analogous to optocouplers in a number of ways.
Figure 1: Optical
Isolator
Figure 2: Isoloop
Isolator
Magnetic couplers transmit signals via a magnetic field, rather than a photon transmission, across a thin film dielectric that provides the galvanic isolation. As is true of optocouplers, magnetic couplers are unidirectional and operate down to DC. But in contrast to optocouplers, magnetic couplers offer the high-frequency performance of an isolation transformer, covering nearly the entire combined bandwidth of the two conventional isolation technologies.
The resistance of two thin ferromagnetic layers separated by a thin nonmagnetic conducting layer can be altered by changing the moments of the ferromagnetic layers from parallel to antiparallel, or parallel but in the opposite direction. Layers with parallel magnetic moments will have less scattering at the interfaces, longer mean free paths, and lower resistance. Layers with antiparallel magnetic moments will have more scattering at the interfaces, shorter mean free paths, and higher resistance (see Figure 2 & 3).
Figure 4: Magneto Resistive Sensor For spin-dependent scattering to be a significant part of the total resistance, the layers must be thinner than the mean free path of electrons in the bulk material. For many ferromagnets the mean free path is tens of nanometers, so the layers themselves must each be typically <10 nm (100 ). It is therefore not surprising that GMR was only recently observed with the development of thin film deposition systems. The spins of electrons in a magnet are aligned to produce a magnetic moment. Magnetic layers with opposing spins (magnetic moments) impede the progress of the electrons (higher scattering) through a sandwiched conductive layer. This arrangement causes the conductor to have a higher resistance to current flow.
Notice that the output characteristic is omnipolar, meaning that the material provides the same change in resistance for a directionally positive magnetic field as it does for a directionally negative field. This characteristic has advantages in certain applications. For example, when used on a magnetic encoder wheel, a GMR sensor using this material will provide a complete sine wave output for each pole on the encoder thus doubling the resolution of the output signal. The material shown in the plot is used in most of GMR sensor products. It provides a 98% linear output from 10% to 70% of full scale, a large GMR effect (13% to 16%), a stable temperature coefficient (0.15%/C) and temperature tolerance (+150C), and a large magnetic field range (0 to 300 Gauss).
Department of ECE, MRCE
For spin-dependent scattering to be a significant part of the total resistance, the layers must be thinner than the mean free path of electrons in the bulk material. For many ferromagnets the mean free path is tens of nanometers, so the layers themselves must each be typically <10 nm (100 ). It is therefore not surprising that GMR was only recently observed with the development of thin film deposition systems.
Figure 6: Isolator Data Travel Figure 5. In a GMR, isolator data travels via a magnetic field through a dielectric isolation to affect that resistance elements arranged in a bridge configuration.
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To put this phenomenon to work, a Wheatstone bridge configuration of four GMR sensors (see Figure 5 & 6). The manufacturing process allows thick film magnetic material to be deposited over the sensor elements to provide areas of magnetic shielding or flux concentration. Various op-amp or in-amp configurations can be used to supply signal conditioning from the bridges outputs. This forms the basis of an isolation receiver. The isolation transmitter is simply coil circuitry deposited on a layer between the GMR sensors layers and the thick film magnetic shielding layer (see Figure 5). Current through this coil layer produce the magnetic field, which overcomes the antiferromagnetic layers there by reducing the sensors resistance.
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to 16 separate pads on the die. A bias strap passes over the lower elements to provide a magnetic field to bias the elements.
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Figure 8: Signal Processing Circuit The GMR Switch holds its precise magnetic operate point over extreme variations in temperature and power supply voltage. This is a low cost method.
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7.1 Bandwidth
IsoLoop couplers are 510 times faster than the fastest optocouplers, and have correspondingly faster rise, fall, and propagation times (see Figure 9). Shorter rise and fall times also reduce power consumption in the device and system by minimizing time in active regions.
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and lower prices. Furthermore, because of their small die size, IsoLoop couplers cost no more than high-performance optocouplers.
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8. DIGITAL ISOLATORS
These devices offer true isolated logic integration in a level not previously available. All transmit and receive channels operate at 110 Mbd over the full temperature and supply voltage range. The symmetric magnetic coupling barrier provides a typical propagation delay of only 10 ns and a pulse width distortion of 2 ns achieving the best specifications of any isolator device. Typical transient immunity of 30 kV/s is unsurpassed.
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12. CONCLUSION
Magnetic couplers will in time be even faster and have more channels. More types of integrated bus transceivers will be available. Several manufacturers are planning to introduce magnetic couplers. The U.S. military is providing significant funding for advanced magnetic coupler development because of the value of their high speed and noise immunity in aircraft and other systems. It has reported prototype devices with speeds of 300 Mbaud and switching times of <1 ns. Also under development are higher-density parts (full byte-wide couplers) and more functionality (latching bus transceivers). Finally, the inherent linearity of a resistive coil and resistive sensing elements make magnetic couplers well suited for linear data protocols such as low-voltage differential signaling.
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13. REFERENCES
1. 2. J.Daughton and Y. Chen. "GMR Materials for Low Field Applications," IEEE Trans Magn, Vol. 29:2705-2710, 2003.pp.18-21 Michael J. Caruso, Tamara Bratland, C. H. Smith, and Robert Schneider, A New Perspective on Magnetic Field Sensing, Sensors Magazine, vol. 15, no. 12, (December 2002), pp. 34-46. 3. Carl H. Smith and Robert W. Schneider, Low-Field Magnetic Sensing with GMR Sensors, Part 1: The Theory of Solid-State Sensing, Sensors Magazine, vol. 16, no. 9, (September 2002), pp. 76-83. 4. Carl H. Smith and Robert W. Schneider, Low-Field Magnetic Sensing with GMR Sensors, Part 2: GMR Sensors and their Applications, Sensors Magazine, vol. 16, no. 10, (October 2002), pp. 84- 91. 5. 6. 7. 8. http://www.circuitcellar.com/library/print/0502/JEFF/4.asp http://www.sensorsmag.com/ http://www.nve.com/isoloop/news/hispdnr.php http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/rho/rho000.html
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