An exemple of the pervasive problem of misuse of funds and manipulation of scientific data at university of Twente.

Titel of the project :

Design of a permalloy magnetoresistive angle detector with "onboard" electronic.

Estimated duration of the project. Two years.

6. Required budget.

6.1 Postdoc salary for a period of two years in connection to the present day position (10-4, bruto 3895.= monthly), so 10-5 and 10-6 for the coming years respectively. 6.2 Personal computer f1. 6.000,=. 6.3 Costs of materials, exploitation and of "runs" in S&A-laboratory and ICE-laboratory (processing) will be the main part of the required budget and is estimated to amount f1 50.000.= in total. 6.4 Two international congres visits are planned: f1 5000.= 6.5 Costs of analyses will be made. Dependent on the results It may be necessary to have analyses done or to hire 'hours" on analytical machines. A back up of about f1 10.000. seems reasonable for this purpose. 6.6 We have no other means to support the project financially. 6.7 Support from the university is not possible.

7. Summary of project. The proposal is directed on the design of a high quality angle detector, based on the magnetoresistive (magnetic field induced anisotropy) effect in permalby in the compositlon NI(81)Fe(19). The permalloy thin film device should be integrated on a silicon chip together with a CM0S preamplifier. The critical steps in the total process are known and preliminary solutions have been obtained. They concern the passivatlon of the CMOS circuitry and a necessary annealing step of the permalby without deterioration of the circuitry, which Is already "on chip" at that stage. The passivation layer under recent study, being plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposited silicon oxynitride, must be optimized and alternative methods of passivation must be investigated. The annealing step has been made compatible with the electronics by introduction of an argon-nitrogen atmosphere during the sputtering of' the permlloy. The critiral steps have been studied In parts by now, with especially deviced samples. The process as a whole bas not been tried and this, of course will be the main challenge of the project: a reliable, fully integrated product, processed in a way that is optimized, fully understood and ready for a clear patent description, if possible. 9.

Description of project.

This proposal is directed on the design of a high quality integrated angle detector, based on the magnetoresistive properties of permally and the possibility to integrate the detector part and the preamplifier on a single "chip". The research up to now has lead to the following results: 1. The sensor part has been investigated thoroughly (1] and general design rules with respect to layout and process are known. 2. The critical steps with respect to compatibility of the NiFe sensor part production and the production of the CMOS amplifier are determined and solutions to overcome the difficulties are proposed and checked experimentally. The results are such that a "go" decision with respect to further development is fully justified The full process of production can be described as follows: First the preamplifier is produced. After that a passivation layer is deposited over the circuitry. Next the NiFe structure is deposited and the connection with the electronic circuit is made. The critical steps, mentioned under point 2 above are the following: a. The electronics must be protected against "poisoning" during and after the NiFe deposition. The passivation layer, mentioned serves that goal. b. The NiFe sensor part must be annealed after deposition in order to obtain the desired accuracy. This annealing step (at 500 C) should not deteriorate the CMOS circuitry as a consequence of junction spiking and hillock growth. A passivation layer with the desired protective properties has been found to be Plasma-enhanced Chernical Vapour Deposited (PECVD) silicon oxynitride. C-V and C-t tests proved the evident immunity of the electronic functions for the NiFe deposition. The annealing problem seems to be solved by sputter deposition of the NiFe in a nitrogen atmosphere, which has as a consequence that the annealing can take place at lower temperature (400 C) with the same results. So the problems are solved "in principle". However the proposed so1utions are based on good intultion, empirical testing and good craftmanship. This means that from a "development" point of view the prototype production can start. But for a better understanding optimization and reliability of the steps proposed and for a good view on possible alternatives which increases the quality of the final result a more fundamental approach is needed. We propose the progress of the project to be as follows: 1. Prototype production based on the present-day process proposal, will take place and test will be performed to verify whether the detector as a whole behaves as required. It must be said that the investigations up to know have been performed on test samples which were designed especially for the purpose of the separate critical steps, so the design as a whole has never been tested (or even produced). This part of the project could be planned in cooperation with Twente Technology Transfer (3T), for the details of which we refer to the section on "utility". 2. This part forms the main subject of the underlying proposal and is oriented on a definite solution of the problems, which have been solved empirically. The point is that a deep understanding of the process steps under investigation must prove the quality of the solutions or point the way to improvement. The proposed project is essential for reliable product development and final description of the process in terms of a patent. We must have a strong conviction with regard to the solutions proposed or the possible alternatives, in order to develope a permanent process description. A second argument for a more fundamental approach of the problems under study is that the results may have a more general scope, than for this project alone. Compatibility problems like the one described here are coming more and more in view. The period of sensor research, directed on first principles, is lying behind us for a number of projects and in the strategy to come to full products the next steps require our attention, e.g. the compatibility and the packaging steps. We are convinced of the fact that these problems must be attacked rather fundamentally In order to have real progress. They no longer fall in the category of "just development", because of the far reaching consequences of the technological procedures and the large investment one has to do with respect to know how and facilities. The relation with other work in our group will be descrlbed In the next section.

10. Utilisation plan. The project comes forth from an STW-project by Dr.K.Eijkel, finished more than a year ago, with a thesis on the permalby device. This device has been the subject of a patent, taken by Twente Technology Transfer (31) in agreement with FOM. 3T is in charge of the utilisation of the detector. For that purpose they designed the necessary electronlcs and built a prototype for demonstration purposes. So the angle detector with a separate piece of electronics has been built and tested by 3T. In the meantime a project, supported by the Centre of Micro Electronlcs (CME) Twente, and boarded out by us to 3T, Is oriented on the appilcatlon of the detector to control a so-called Switched Reluctance Motor. This project is undertaken wlth an Australian (university) partner Other applications are descrlbed In an accompanying letter of 3T. The step to consider full integratlon was considered in the final stage of Eijkel's work, when we had the opportunity of a single "grant" of the faculty of Electrontc Engineering. We found Dr.Elm'rabat prepared to start the work and his results up to now are considered as very promising. So we are convinced that the project should be continued, and having no more money to keep Dr.E1m'rabat on the project, the decision was taken for this appilcation of an TN&I grant Angle detection has a wide range of appilcation, and we have no doubt about the appilcability of the device we invented. A convincing demonstration of the usability of permalby devices in sensors was recently reported in the journal IEEE Spectrum, which described an appllcation of a different permalloy device as an axis rotation sensor in an automobile.