Trend No. 4: The transition from rare earth materials to ferrites

Rare earth materials production is concentrated among a short list of countries worldwide. These materials are not inexhaustible and, at the rate of current consumption with no recycling, it is expected that world reserves likely will be exhausted during the second half of the 21st century [1].

Some companies have started to reduce their dependence and geopolitical risk by shifting some of their magnet consumption over to ferrite materials. Ferrite magnets cost a fraction of rare earth magnets such as neodymium ferrite boron and also have stable pricing, given the abundance of ferrite materials. The downside to using ferrite magnets is that the magnetic fields produced are greatly reduced – as much as 10 times lower – and have a temperature drift of 0.2%/°C.

Texas Instruments’ TMAG5170 and TMAG5273 magnetic sensors operate with ceramic ferrite or rare earth magnets and have temperature drift compensation features specific for these magnet types.