A Novel Machine for Scanning Permanent Magnets Used in Magnetic Angle Sensors

Authors: Marjan Blagojevi (SENIS GmbH); Nenad Markovi (SENIS GmbH); Radivoje Popovi (SENIS GmbH); Dragan Mani (Faculty of Electronic Engineering University of Ni)

Modern magnetic angle sensors consist of a combination of a rotating

permanent magnet and a magnetic field sensor. The characteristics of the
permanent magnets for such sensors must be carefully controlled. The
characterization of the magnets includes scanning of the magnetic field by
means of a magnetic field probe.

Ideal Probe alignment

The definition of the homogeneity:
H arctg

By
Bx

arctg

By
Bx

x 0, y 0

Euler's transformations:
General Hall effect system
This is a challenging task due to the following facts: (i) The crucial
characteristic to be determined is the orientation of the magnetic field vector;
therefore, at least two, but preferably all three components of the magnetic
field must be measured at the same points, which raises the issues of the
positioning and orthogonality of the magnetic sensors in the probe; (ii) the
magnets of interest might be as small as a few millimeters in diameter, and
therefore the magnetic fields might be very inhomogeneous; so the spatial
resolution of the probe must be very high.
We have pushed the limits in this field by building a magnetic scanning
machine with several novel features. We applied a CMOS fully integrated 3axis Hall probe with the magnetic sensitive volume of about 0.1mm x 0.1mm
x 0.01mm. This meets the requirements of the measurements of all three
components of a magnetic field with high spatial resolution. The other
features of the Hall probe include:
On-chip suppression of offset and 1/f noise
Negligible planar Hall effect
No parasitic inductive and capacitive coupling
High DC field resolution: up to 5T at 20mT

Definition of the Angular errors

Tilt is angle of rotation around y axis;
Roll is angle of rotation around z axis;
Pitch is angle of rotation around x axis.

U H S B S x Bx S y B y S z Bz

However, we found that the mutual orthogonality of the horizontal and

vertical Hall elements integrated in the probe was not sufficient for the
present task. In order to improve the magnetic angle measurement, we
developed a software correction of the measured magnetic angle error.
Briefly, we proceed as follows: We record the matrix of the magnetic vectors
for a given position of the magnet under test. Then, we rotate the magnet for
90, and record again the matrix of the magnetic vectors. Ideally, the second
matrix must be equal to the transposed matrix of the first one. If this is not the
case, we apply an adequate Eulers transformations on the measured field
components. In this way, self-consistent magnetic angle measurements were
obtained, with the resolution of 0.1 degree.

r11

R r21
The misalignment of the Probe relative to magnet
r31

r12
r22
r32

Start position for probe and

magnet

Position where measured

component By is maximal

Position of probe and magnet

when component By change sign

Position of probe and magnet

after rotation of 180

Position of probe and magnet

after second change of sign of
component By

Position of probe in the middle

between two changes of sign

Position where measured

component Bx is maximal

Position of probe and magnet

when component Bx change sign

Position of probe and magnet

after rotation of 180

Position of probe and magnet

after second change of sign of
component Bx

Position of probe in the middle

between two changes of sign

r13

r23
r33

r11 cos cos cos sin sin

r12 cos sin cos cos sin
r13 sin sin

r21 sin cos cos sin cos

r22 sin sin cos cos cos

r23 cos sin

r31 sin sin
r32 sin sin

r33 cos
Bx
B
y
Bz

Ux
S

U
R y
S

Uz
S

We also developed a novel procedure for the alignment of the rotating axis of
the permanent magnet under test with the axis of the sensitive zone of the probe.
We use a rotating platform with the permanent magnet placed out of the rotation
axis of the platform. By successively rotating the platform and moving the Hall
probe according to an algorithm, the alignment of the rotating axis and the probe
is obtained in a few iterations.
Procedure for Alignment of the Field Sensitive Volume with the Axis of Rotation
(2D simulation)

The tool for the precise aligning

Position of probe respect to

rotation axis before and after
applied procedure