Magnetic sensors like those used to measure RPMs tend to stop responding at high temperatures. That's bad news for future high-efficiency ceramic car engines and aircraft that operate at much higher temperatures.
Now, University of Chicago researchers think they have a solution to overheating engine sensors: polycrystalline indium antimonide magnetosensors. Indium antimonide is a III-V semiconductor, like gallium arsenide, that is widely used for high-effieciency infrared detectors and magnetic sensors. Both employ magnetoresistance and the Hall Effect. Indium antimonide is prized for its ultra-high purity, but many applications require cooling indium antimonide sensors to prevent the adverse effects of thermal lattice vibrations called phonons. University of Chicago researchers have found a way to damp out the vibrations.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=210601942
