Systems & methods for flaw detection and monitoring at elevated temperatures with wireless communication using surface embedded, monolithically integrated, thin-film, magnetically actuated sensors, and methods for fabricating the sensors

A method for manufacturing a monolithically integrated, multi-layered, thin-film sensor for flaw detection and monitoring, the sensor comprising a thin-film, multi-layer magnetostrictive stack, a thin-film electrically insulating layer, and a thin-film activating layer, the method comprising the steps of:

• magnetron sputtering of alternating layers of a high (hard) magnetostrictive material and a high magnetization (soft) material directly onto a sensing platform, the properties of the composite magnetostrictive layer engineered by adjusting layer thickness, soft/hard layer ratio and sputtering deposition parameters;
• post-annealing the composite magnetostrictive layers in a magnetic bias field;
• depositing a dielectric layer over top of the composite magnetostrictive layer using reactive magnetron sputtering, the dielectric layer to serve as an electrically insulating layer and for resistance to high temperature oxidizing environments;
• and
• depositing an activation layer, the activation layer comprising a conductive planar antenna coil, by means of shadow mask directly on top of the dielectric layer.

A method for monitoring the structural integrity of a moving component comprising the steps of:

• providing a thin-film, multi-layer magnetostrictive sensor on the moving component;
• providing a receiver antenna on a non-moving component adjacent the moving component;
• implementing wireless communication to transmit the data acquired by the thin film multilayer sensor to the receiver antenna near or within the component under interrogation;
• implementing an RF backscatter modulator circuit with high fidelity for communicating analog response signals from the magnetostrictive sensor;
• and
• coupling RF signals from the antenna on the stationary component to an RF backscatter modulator on the rotating component.