Micro-Hall position sensing of magnetic nanowires

Abstract

The Hall voltage output of a micro-Hall magnetic sensor depends on the relative position of a magnetic nanowire with respect to its sensing area. Following this idea, we performed analytical calculations which show that, under certain conditions, these devices can track the position of a magnetic nanowire with subnanometer resolution. Our results suggest that micro-Hall sensors can be utilized to provide a direct electronic readout of the position of magnetic nanowires in their applications as biomolecular manipulators or dynamic components in micro- and nanoscale devices. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.