Radiation tolerance of tunneling magnetoresistance sensors under bias voltage

Abstract

The tunneling magnetoresistance magnetic sensor (TMR-MS) has garnered widespread attention for its exceptional performance and cost-effectiveness, positioning it as the most promising candidate to supplant traditional Hall sensors. However, in high radiation working environments, such as medical and space applications, sensors must exhibit a certain level of radiation tolerance. In response to the stability issue of magnetic sensing performance of TMR magnetic sensitive devices under complex conditions (such as electromagnetic radiation), we investigated the impact of γ-ray and X-ray in the dose range of 0-5 Mrad(Si) on the performance of TMR-MSs with a sensitivity of 418 mV/(V Oe) and noise level up to 200 pT/√Hz at 1 Hz, while maintaining a bias voltage applied to the sensor in irradiation engineering to replicate real-world conditions. No degradation in the key performance indicators of TMR-MSs due to dose effects was observed, confirming their potential for operation in high radiation environments.