Influence of direct DC bias current on stepped magnetoimpedance profile and changes in domain structure.

We investigated the effects of DC bias current applied directly to the elements on the inclined easy axis thin-film magnetoimpedance element indicating a discontinuous impedance jump. We clarified that the DC bias current contributes to changes in the configuration of domain structure, which induces modification of impedance profiles on the 20 μm-wide element. On the other hand, 40 and 80 μm-wide elements did not show the apparent changes on the magnetoimpedance profiles. The influence of DC bias current on jumping point is not so much, which is attributed to the small bias magnetic field generated by the current; the limited bias level is not high due to Joules heating by the current. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]