AA and AB-Series Analog Sensors
- 12 -
www.nve.com phone: 952-829-9217 fax: 952-829-9189
AA and AB-Series Analog Sensors
NVE’s AA and AB-Series analog GMR sensors offer unique and unparalleled magnetic sensing
capabilities. These sensors are characterized by high sensitivity to applied magnetic fields, excellent
temperature stability, low power consumption, and small size. These characteristics make them
suitable for use in a wide variety of applications from rugged industrial and automotive position,
speed, and current sensors, to low-voltage, battery-powered sensors for use in hand-held
instrumentation and implantable medical devices. The unmatched versatility of these basic magnetic
sensors makes them an excellent choice for a wide range of analog sensing applications.
The AA-Series sensors use NVE’s patented GMR materials and on-chip flux concentrators to provide
a directionally sensitive output signal. These sensors are sensitive in one direction in the plane of the
IC, with a cosine-scaled falloff in sensitivity as the sensor is rotated away from the sensitive direction.
Also, these devices provide the same output for magnetic fields in the positive or negative direction
along the axis of sensitivity (omnipolar output). All sensors are designed in a Wheatstone bridge
configuration to provide temperature compensation. Two packages are offered, an SOIC8 and an
MSOP8. These sensors are also available in die form on a special-order basis.
There are three families of NVE’s basic AA-Series sensors: the standard AA-Series, the AAH-Series,
and the AAL-Series. Each of these sensor families uses a different GMR material, with its own
characteristics. The comparison table below summarizes the different characteristics of the GMR
materials:
Parameter AA Series AAH Series AAL Series
Sensitivity to Applied Fields High Very High High
Field Range of Operation High Low Medium
Hysteresis Medium High Low
Temperature Range High Very High Very High
The AB-Series sensors are differential sensor devices, or gradiometers, which take advantage of the
high output characteristics of NVE’s GMR materials. Two families of AB sensors are offered, the
standard AB-Series and the ABH-Series. They have operational characteristics similar to the AA and
AAH sensors described in the table above but with the bipolar linear output characteristics of a
differential sensor.
Within these different sensor families, customers can find an excellent match to their analog sensor
requirements.
