System and method of sensing catheter's location and force

Abstract

To provide an electric component.SOLUTION: An electric component has electric coils, and is formed by 3D printing of at least three different 3D-printed materials with spatial distributions yielding an open magnetic circuit configuration of one of the electric coils. The electric component has: a bulk formed by a non-magnetic dielectric 3D printed material; and an electric coil of the open magnetic circuit configuration that is 3D-printed in the bulk. The electric coil comprises: a magnetic channel of a magnetic material 3D-printed in the bulk forming a magnetic core of the electric coil; and an electric channel forming an inductor of the electric coil having a conductive material 3D-printed in the bulk with a coil / helical geometry having electrically connected conductive windings arranged to surround the magnetic channel. The magnetic channel is configured and operable with the open magnetic circuit configuration and has magnetic material occupying a central region of the coil / helical geometry of the inductor while not enclosing the windings with a closed loop of the magnetic material.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1B

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] (CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS) This application claims priority to U.S. Patent Application No. 63 / 533,258, filed August 17, 2023, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein as if set forth in their entirety.

[0002] FIELD OF THEINVENTION The present invention is in the field of catheters, and more particularly, relates to systems and methods for sensing the location of a catheter and the forces exerted by a catheter. [Background technology]

[0003] In various therapeutic and diagnostic procedures, catheters / probes are inserted into a patient's body (e.g., a cardiac chamber) where they are brought into contact with bodily tissue. Typically, in such procedures, it is necessary to determine the location of the catheter within the body (i.e., where the distal tip of the catheter engages bodily tissue) and the pressure thereby applied to the tissue.

[0004] Catheters having integrated location and pressure sensors for sensing the location of the catheter and the pressure / force applied thereby to the tissue contact area are commonly known. Such catheters typically utilize an inductive coil to determine the location of the catheter within the body and / or the pressure / force applied thereby to the body tissue with which the catheter engages.

[0005] Conventional techniques for such catheters often utilize a wire-wound coil into which a ferrite core may be manually inserted after winding. The coil thus fabricated is then soldered to a cable that carries the coil signal to processing circuitry and mounted within the body of the catheter. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0006] In order to better understand the subject matter disclosed herein, and to illustrate how it may be carried out in practice, embodiments will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: [Figure 1A] FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of a method 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention for fabricating an electrical component having one or more open magnetic circuit electrical coils therein. [Figure 1B] 2A-2C are a perspective view, several cross-sectional views, and a cross-sectional side view, respectively, of a model 200 of an exemplary electrical component 210 fabricated in accordance with the techniques of the present invention. [Figure 1C] 2A-2C are a perspective view, several cross-sectional views, and a cross-sectional side view, respectively, of a model 200 of an exemplary electrical component 210 fabricated in accordance with the techniques of the present invention. [Figure 1D] 2A-2C are a perspective view, several cross-sectional views, and a cross-sectional side view, respectively, of a model 200 of an exemplary electrical component 210 fabricated in accordance with the techniques of the present invention. [Figure 1E] 2A-2B are schematic perspective views of two exemplary electrical components 210(a) and 210(b) of the present invention suitable for use as medical instrument sensors. [Figure 1F] 2A-2H are schematic perspective views of six exemplary electrical components 210(c)-210(h) according to the present invention, each including a single open magnetic circuit coil 3D printed according to the techniques of the present invention. [Figure 1G] 2A-2H are schematic perspective views of six exemplary electrical components 210(c)-210(h) according to the present invention, each including a single open magnetic circuit coil 3D printed according to the techniques of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 1 shows a side view of a medical device 1000, such as a catheter, according to an embodiment of the present invention, equipped with an electrical component 210 of the present invention as a position sensor and a force sensor. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0007] There is a need in the catheter art for a physically agile and sensitive catheter having small / narrow dimensions that is capable of providing accurate feedback regarding the location of the catheter within the body, the contact interface between the catheter and tissue, and the forces (e.g., vectors) applied between them.

[0008] U.S. Patent No. 8,535,308 and U.S. Patent Application No. 2020 / 015693, both of which are assigned to the assignee of the present application, disclose such catheter configurations that utilize sensing circuits having several coils to sense, for example, the location and orientation of the catheter body and the force applied thereby to the interface with tissue.

[0009] One challenge in such catheter technology is fitting accurate location and force sensors within the narrow body of the catheter, whose lateral dimensions are typically only a few mm. Indeed, as discussed above, in conventional catheter technology, position and force sensors typically utilize small wire-wound coils with open magnetic circuit configurations into which ferrite cores can be manually inserted to provide sufficient induced voltage suitable for sensing the position and force of the catheter components. However, these conventional techniques are time consuming, expensive, and involve delicate manual labor to fit the coils within the small dimensions of the catheter body.

[0010] However, other conventional techniques for coil fabrication are also not well suited to fabricating small open magnetic circuit coils with high induced voltages, e.g., lacking their ability to fabricate small open magnetic circuit coils with aspect ratios of longitudinal to transverse dimensions of at least 3 or 4 (e.g., coil longitude of about 2 mm and transverse / width of about 0.6 mm). Thus, conventional techniques also lack the ability to fabricate small open magnetic circuit coils with high sensitivity / induced voltages (e.g., about 0.1-1 μV / (Gauss)). *Hz) is lacking for fabricating small open magnetic circuit coils with sensitivity / induced voltages that are typically dependent on the aspect ratio of the longitudinal to lateral dimensions (if the aspect ratio is too small, the effective permeability of the magnetic core drops significantly due to its geometry dependence). For example, conventional sheet lamination techniques (also known as green sheet lamination), in which inductor coils are fabricated by printing internal inductor electrodes on multiple magnetic or dielectric green sheets and laminating the sheets, are unreliable and prone to manufacturing defects for fabricating small coils with the dimensions described above and / or with sufficient length to width ratios required to produce high induced voltages.

[0011] Thus, there is a need in the art for efficient and cost-effective techniques for the fabrication of catheters suitable for use in sensing location or forces in catheters such as those disclosed above, and for the fabrication of small, highly sensitive coils (i.e., having high induced voltages in response to magnetic fields). Further, there is a need in the art for automated fabrication techniques for such coils, suitable for mass production resulting in standardized coils with less variation between fabricated coils of the same design. Further, there is a need in the art for facilitating even smaller and / or higher impedance / induced voltages to improve either or both of the sensitivity and agility of catheters and / or to achieve reduced dimensions of catheters, to take advantage of further advances in the catheter art.

[0012] The present invention thus provides a novel position sensing system for electrical components, including, for example, an open magnetic circuit coil suitable for a high induced voltage magnetic sensor for use as a position sensor mounted within the narrow dimensions of a catheter body, as well as novel constructions and methods of manufacture.

[0013] Reference is now made to FIG. 1A, which illustrates in a flow diagram a method 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention for fabricating an electrical component having one or more electrical coils therein with an open magnetic circuit configuration suitable for use in a catheter position sensor.

[0014] Advantageously, the method 100 utilizes 3D printing techniques to print an electrical component having a ceramic and / or glass-ceramic solid body (non-laminated bulk) with an open magnetic circuit electrical coil embedded therein. The open magnetic circuit electrical coil embedded within the electrical component is fabricated from at least three different materials having different electromagnetic properties, including a magnetic material, an electrically conductive material, and a non-magnetic dielectric (electrically insulating) material.

[0015] In this regard, the phrase open magnetic circuit configuration with respect to coils fabricated by the techniques of the present invention should be understood herein to refer to a coil structure that does not substantially cause shielding of external magnetic fields (i.e., allows external magnetic fields to pass through the coil core without substantially detouring around the core). The term magnetic material and / or particles is used herein to refer to materials having a high relative permeability μ r , for example, preferably μ for vacuum permeability μ r It is used to denote a material having a relative magnetic permeability of ≧100. Conversely, the term non-magnetic material and / or particles is used herein to denote a material having a relative magnetic permeability substantially lower than that of the magnetic materials used in the fabrication of electronic components, typically about μ r Low relative permeability μ ~1 r Used to indicate the material.

[0016] Furthermore, it should be noted that the phrase multi-material three-dimensional printing (i.e., hereinafter also referred to as 3D printing) is used herein to denote a multi-material 3D printing technique that allows selective pixelated deposition, adhesion, polymerization, and / or curing of voxels of several different materials in each layer while performing material adhesion, polymerization, and / or curing layer by layer. To this end, the 3D printing (multi-material) technique used in this application should not be confused with other additive manufacturing techniques such as sheet lamination techniques (e.g., green sheet lamination), material extrusion, etc., that do not facilitate selective pixelated deposition, adhesion, polymerization, and / or curing of voxels of different materials in the same layer (a feature also referred to herein as intra-layer pixelation).

[0017] Thus, in operation 110 of method 100, a model 200 of one or more electrical components 210 to be 3D printed is provided. Model 200 shows a 3D spatial distribution (voxel map) of at least three materials 221, 222, and 223 to be 3D printed by multi-material 3D printing to form the electrical components of the present invention. In particular, model 200 shows the distribution of each of the three materials 221, 222, and 223 according to which one or more open magnetic circuit coils (typically small in size) are formed in one or more electronic components 210 printed by multi-material 3D printing.

[0018] 1B, a perspective view of a model 200 of one electrical component 210, including, in this non-limiting example, a single open magnetic circuit coil 220, is illustrated. As shown, the model 200 shows a 3D distribution of conductive material 223 forming at least one electrical channel 223C of the coil 220 extending between terminal ends 223T1 and 223T2 of at least two conductive materials 223, typically formed of the same conductive material 223. In addition, the model 220 shows a 3D distribution of magnetic material 222 forming at least one magnetic channel 222C extending between at least two distal end facets 222E1 and 222E2 of the magnetic material 222. Typically, the two distal end facets 222E1 and 222E2 of the magnetic channel 222C provide input / output for magnetic flux flow through the magnetic channel 222C, and therefore, as shown by the double-headed arrow B in the figure, the overall direction / axis of sensitivity of the coil to an external magnetic field B can typically be considered to be the direction extending between these distal end facets 222E1 and 222E2 (e.g., in some embodiments, regardless of the actual shape of the magnetic channel 3D printed between them).

[0019] The material distributions 222 and 223 forming the magnetic channel 222C and the electric channel 223C of the modeled coil 220 are functionally configured in the model 220 with a coiled geometry such that in response to a magnetic flux change in the magnetic channel 222C, a voltage is generated in the electric channel 223C, and vice versa. The coiled geometry of the magnetic channel 222C and the electric channel 223C is generally such that at least one of the electric channel 223C and the magnetic channel 222C is configured with multiple windings / turns around (wraps around) the other of the magnetic channel 222C and the electric channel 223C. This thus provides that the electric channel is configured and operable as the inductor 220I of the electric coil 220 and the magnetic channel is configured and operable as the magnetic core 220M of the electric coil 220, resulting in a high induced voltage in the coil 220 in response to a change in the magnetic field, and / or vice versa.

[0020] As described above, the electrical component 210 printed in the technique of the present invention includes at least one electrical coil 220 having an open magnetic circuit configuration. The open magnetic circuit configuration facilitates efficient coupling of magnetic flux from an external magnetic field B through the magnetic core 220M of the open magnetic circuit coil 220, thereby enabling a high induced voltage to be generated in response to a magnetic flux change. The open magnetic circuit configuration of the magnetic channel is typically implemented such that the distal end facets 222E1 and 222E2 of the magnetic channel 222C are generally spaced apart (not connected to each other). Typically, the distal end facets 222E1 and 222E2 are arranged to face in different directions (e.g., opposite directions) to facilitate efficient flow of magnetic flux through the magnetic channel 222C from the external magnetic field. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of magnetic material 222 within magnetic channel 222C in model 200 (between its distal end facets 222E1 and 222E2) is such that conductive channel 223C is not surrounded by a closed loop of magnetic material 222. More specifically, the spatial distribution of magnetic material 222 in magnetic channel 222C does not define a contiguous set of adjacent magnetic material voxels that form a closed path of magnetic material that surrounds conductive channel 223C.

[0021] It should be noted that in the specific non-limiting examples shown in the figures, the coiled geometry of the electric channel 223C and the magnetic channel 222C of the modeled coil 220 is implemented by a helical / spiral geometry of the electric channel 223C, with the magnetic channel 222C configured to occupy a region in the center of the helical / spiral geometry of the electric channel 223C. Thus, in these non-limiting examples, the electric channel 223C is configured to have multiple windings / turns 223W around the magnetic channel 222C. Nevertheless, it should be understood that the present application is not limited to this specific geometry, and that model 200 providing other coiled geometries of the magnetic channel 222C and the electric channel 223C that are functionally responsive to changes in the magnetic flux of the magnetic channel 222C to generate an induced voltage / current in the magnetic channel 223C or vice versa can also be implemented / 3D printed in accordance with the techniques of the present invention without departing from the scope of the present application.

[0022] To effectively achieve an open magnetic circuit coil configuration, model 200 includes a spatial distribution of another material, a non-magnetic, electrically insulating material 221, which acts as a bulk material. An electrical channel 223C between its two electrical terminals 223T1 and 223T2 is completely embedded within the bulk material 221 such that its voxels are in contact with either voxels of the bulk material 221, voxels of the magnetic material 222, or both, and are not located at an edge facet of its respective electrical component 210, except for two electrical terminals 223T1 and 223T2, which may optionally be exposed at the edge facets of electrical component 210 to facilitate electrical connection to coil 220.

[0023] In this regard, the inductor 220I is preferably fully embedded within the bulk 220B of the electrical component 220 such that its conductive material 223 is not exposed at the outer surface of the bulk 220B (except possibly for the two electrical terminals 223T1 and 223T2), thereby isolating it from environmental conditions that may degrade the physical / conductive properties of the conductive material 223 (e.g., due to excessive oxidation that may occur under the high temperature conditions of the sintering process, or due to storage in humid air). It will be appreciated that protecting the conductive material from environmental conditions is particularly important when implementing the techniques of the present invention, especially for the fabrication of small electrical coil components. For example, the present invention facilitates the fabrication of an open magnetic circuit coil 220 having a conductive winding 223W with a thickness as small as 5μ along the electrical channel 223C of the inductor 220I. Such small features are susceptible to damage by environmental conditions, and therefore embedding them within the bulk 220B is particularly important to maintain the proper functionality of the coil while allowing the coil to undergo some of the high temperature processes performed during 3D printing without functional damage.

[0024] Returning to FIG. 1A, in operation 120 of method 100, multi-material 3D printing is applied to print one or more electrical components 210 based on model 200, resulting in one or more electrical components 210 with at least one open magnetic circuit electrical coil 220 embedded therein. Multi-material 3D printing can be performed, for example, by using photopolymerization 3D printing techniques to print layers consisting of a combination of several materials (e.g., two, three or more) with different electromagnetic properties. For example, 3D printing an electrical component with a spatial distribution of at least three materials including a conductive material, a magnetic material, and a non-magnetic dielectric material. Using the techniques of the present invention, electrical components with small feature sizes can be printed using 3D printing layers with thicknesses scaled down to microns (e.g., sintered layer thickness of 8 microns) and pixelated (later) features with characteristic sizes on the scale of tens of microns or less. Printing may be implemented using, for example, stereolithography (SLA) or digital light processing (DLP) for pattern implementation / projection, for example based on the principle of liquid bath photopolymerization. The invention is not limited to these particular technologies and may generally be carried out by other multi-material 3D printing techniques as they may be developed to be suitable for the fabrication of electrical components according to the invention.

[0025] To perform the 3D printing, curable resins are provided, each corresponding to at least three materials specified by the model 200. More specifically, the curable resins used in the 3D printing of the electronic component 210 according to the present invention include at least the following: - a magnetic material resin, comprising particles of soft magnetic material magnetic material 222 suspended in a hardenable polymer binder. The particles of magnetic material 222 may comprise, for example, particles of ceramic-ferrite material. Alternatively, it should be noted that in some embodiments, the particles of magnetic material 222 may comprise particles of magnetic metallic materials such as iron alloys, iron-silicon alloys, iron-aluminum-silicon alloys, low carbon steel, nickel-iron alloys, iron-cobalt alloys, ferrites, amorphous alloys, and possibly nickel-cobalt alloys (especially if they have soft magnetic properties). In embodiments in which small coils are to be fabricated, the particles of magnetic material used may be provided with characteristic sizes on the micron to submicron scale, for example in embodiments in which the magnetic channel 220M of the coil exhibits fine features. - a conductive material resin, comprising particles of conductive material 223 suspended in a curable polymer binder. The particles of conductive material 223 may include, for example, silver material, copper material and / or silver-palladium alloy. The specific selection of suitable conductive materials may generally depend on the required temperature of the sintering / firing process required to complete the printing of the electrical component, and thus on the type of magnetic and dielectric materials. In embodiments in which miniature coils are fabricated having conductive windings with characteristic sizes on the scale of a few microns or tens of microns, the particles of conductive material 223 used for printing may have characteristic sizes on the submicron scale, or even as small as the nanometer scale if printing of such small features is desired. - a non-magnetic dielectric material resin, comprising particles of non-magnetic dielectric material 221 suspended in a curable polymer binder. The particles of non-magnetic dielectric material typically comprise ceramic or glass-ceramic particles that can withstand the high sintering / firing temperatures required to sinter the printed conductive and magnetic materials. Also, here the size of the particles may be selected according to the smallest feature size that the dielectric material / bulk of the electrical component should occupy, e.g. on the order of nanometer to sub-micron scale for the fabrication of small coils.

[0026] Regarding the above material selection, it is noted that while it is generally possible to print the magnetic channel 222C with a magnetic metal material, in various embodiments it may be preferable to print the magnetic channel with an electrically insulating ceramic ferrite. One reason is that the use of a ceramic ferrite facilitates achieving a more compact arrangement of the magnetic channel 222C and the electrical channel 223C. This is because the soft magnetic metal materials (non-ceramic ferrites) that are suitable for use in magnetic channel printing are generally conductive. Thus, the magnetic channel 222C printed with a non-ceramic ferrite should be spaced away from the electrical channel 223C (to prevent short circuits). This requires the design and printing of a more complex model 200 of the electrical component, in which intermediate voxels of dielectric material (buffers of ceramic or glass-ceramic material) should be located between the magnetic channel 222C and the electrical channel 223C in areas where these channels may otherwise contact each other. In addition, it may affect the achievable miniaturization of the component due to the required separation between the conductive magnetic channel 222C and the electrical channel 223C, which should preferably be at least a few microns for sufficient electrical isolation. Furthermore, when such non-ceramic ferrite materials are used with current printing equipment, the separation is in practice typically greater than about 10(s) microns or more, depending on the minimum lateral (within a layer) feature size supported by current printing equipment. Thus, ceramic ferrite materials are preferably used for printing magnetic channels 222C, especially when printing electrical components that include small coils with high sensitivity / induced voltages.

[0027] Therefore, utilizing the at least three curable naps described above, the 3D printing of the electrical component 210 can be performed layer by layer according to the three-dimensional spatial distribution of the material within the model 200.

[0028] As mentioned above, the printing may be performed using a photopolymerization multi-material 3D printing technique, such as SLA or DLP. Preferably, the printing direction in which the printing is performed is substantially perpendicular to the plane in which the conductive windings 223W extend. That is, the printing direction is preferably the Z direction illustrated in FIG. 1B, perpendicular to the XY plane around which the windings extend (approximately). With current 3D printing technology, the selection of this printing direction Z may be particularly important in the printing of small open magnetic circuit coils 200 in order to achieve a high density of windings in such small coils (e.g. a large number of conductive windings 223W of the inductor 220I per unit length of the magnetic core 220M). This is because with current 3D printing techniques, the lateral feature resolution in the XY plane is lower than the "vertical" resolution that can be achieved along the layer printing direction z (e.g., the lateral resolution of some 3D printing techniques facilitates small feature sizes of around 25 μm or even down to 15 μm, but the thickness of the printed layer (and therefore the "vertical" feature size) can be substantially smaller, less than 10 μm, or even down to just a micron or a few microns (e.g., 5 μm).

[0029] 1C and 1D, four successive transverse cross sections (a), (b), (c) and (d) of a model 200 of an electric coil 220 according to an embodiment of the present invention are trivially illustrated in FIG 1C, and a longitudinal cross section (e) is trivially illustrated in FIG 1D. The transverse cross sections (a), (b), (c) and (d) show four respective printable layers of the model 200 taken from the plane XY in a transverse direction perpendicular to the printing direction Z. In one example, the cross sections (a), (b) and (c) illustrate three successive layers of the electric coil 220.

[0030] To this end, typically, the 3D printing of each layer of the open magnetic circuit electric coil 220 typically includes the following (not necessarily in this order): - printing and curing a magnetic material 222 in the area of ​​the layer corresponding to the magnetic core 220M of the electric coil; - printing and curing a conductive material 223 in the area of ​​the layer corresponding to the inductor 220I of the electric coil; and - Printing and curing a non-conductive (dielectric) non-magnetic material 221 at least near the interface of the conductive material 223 that is not in contact with the magnetic material 222 (excluding, possibly, contact areas 223T1 and 223T2) (this is to embed the conductive material 223 within the bulk of the electrical component 210 to protect against degradation due to environmental conditions).

[0031] Thus, 3D printing 120 results in the structure of one or more electrical components 210 including at least one electrical coil 220 in an open magnetic circuit configuration.

[0032] In this example, as shown by Figures 1B-1D, 3D printing is performed such that the magnetic core 220M of the open magnetic circuit coil 220 occupies the central region of the coil / helical outline of the inductor 220I, but does not surround the inductor's conductive windings with a continuous closed loop / channel of magnetic material 222.

[0033] In this regard, it is noted that in some embodiments of the present invention, the method 100 is performed to 3D print an electrical component 110 having embedded therein miniature electrical coils having micron-scale sized features. For example, the 3D printed layer may be printed at a thickness in the range of about 5-15 μm (e.g., 9 μm), depending on the particular model design and 3D printing technique used. Thus, the pitch of the coiled / helical arrangement of the winding 223W, which may be approximately twice the pitch of the 3D printed layer, may range from about 10 μm to 30 μm (e.g., a winding pitch of about 18 μm) along the printing direction Z of the 3D printed layer.

[0034] In the above non-limiting example, the coil windings 223W are distributed in different 3D printed layers of the electrical component 210 and have a helical configuration, however, it should be understood that other winding configurations may be implemented in an open magnetic circuit electrical coil fabricated by the techniques of the present invention without departing from the scope of the present application. For example, multiple windings may be disposed in each of one or more 3D printed layers of the electrical component 210 and may be connected in a spiral configuration within such layers in the form of a concentric double / multiple helical configuration across multiple layers, for example as illustrated in FIG. 1G. Thus, an open magnetic circuit coil having windings 223W with a single helical configuration may be fabricated, and / or to facilitate a higher density of windings 223W in a compact coil, the windings 223W may be configured and fabricated by the techniques of the present invention with a concentric multiple helical configuration and / or a spiral-helical configuration. For example, in a spiral-helical arrangement of windings, one or more spiral windings may be distributed in one or more different 3D printed layers within the 220B bulk and connected between them to form the spiral-helical arrangement. Alternatively or additionally, in a double / multiple helix configuration of windings, concentric helices (or spiral helices) of windings that may be connected in parallel or series with each other may be fabricated in the open magnetic circuit coil 220.

[0035] In such embodiments where the concentric windings 223W or portions thereof are fabricated in the same 3D printed layer, the concentric portions are typically spaced apart by 3D printed non-magnetic dielectric material 221 to preserve the open magnetic circuit geometry of the coil 220 while at the same time not shorting the paths of the windings. In some embodiments, the 3D printing is performed with a lateral print resolution of the 3D printed layer of approximately 15-30 μm (typically about 25 μm). In this regard, it will be appreciated that the projector typically projects pixels with a resolution of 19 μm-35 μm, and during sintering of the printed part, their dimensions shrink by about 20%, thus resulting in a layer resolution / feature size of 15-30 μm.

[0036] Thus, in some embodiments of the invention where the compact coil 220 is fabricated with concentric intra-layer windings 223W (e.g., having a multiple helix or spiral helix shape), the lateral pitch of the intra-layer windings may be on the order of about 30 μm to 60 μm (e.g., typically about 50 μm), which is about twice the lateral resolution of 3D printing. This can be implemented to further improve the spatial density of the windings within the compact coil, resulting in improved induced voltages in response to changing magnetic fields.

[0037] 1E, two examples of electrical components 210(a) and 210(b) are shown on the printing platform 201 after being printed by operations 110 and 120 of the method 100 of the present invention. The two electrical components illustrated here are suitable for use as sensors (component 210(b)) for sensing the position and / or orientation (e.g., relative to an external frame of reference) of a medical device such as a catheter, and as sensors (component 210(a)) for sensing the force applied by the medical device / catheter to tissue in contact with it. In this particular non-limiting example, electrical component 210(a) has a ceramic or glass-ceramic bulk 220B formed in a ring / doughnut shape, with three small open magnetic circuit coils 220.1, 220.2 and 220.3 of substantially similar properties distributed around the periphery of the ring / doughnut shaped bulk 220B and co-aligned with their magnetic axes along the axis of symmetry Z of the doughnut shaped bulk. This electrical component may therefore be mounted within the elongated body of the catheter with its axis of symmetry Z aligned with the longitudinal axis of the catheter body, and is suitable for sensing its orientation relative to a magnetic field source located in front of it along the longitudinal axis at the distal portion of the catheter (and thus may be useful for sensing forces applied to tissue by the catheter). In this particular, non-limiting example, component 210(b) is a single open magnetic circuit coil with a small height along the Z direction of its magnetic axis and an elongated lateral aspect ratio across the XY plane, making it suitable for mounting within the elongated body of the catheter to sense with sufficient sensitivity the components of the magnetic field perpendicular to the longitudinal axis Z of the catheter. Two such components 210(b) positioned within the catheter in different directions with their magnetic axis perpendicular to the longitude of the catheter, together with one of the coils of component 210(a) with its magnetic axis aligned with the longitude of the catheter, may therefore be used to sense the position and orientation of the catheter relative to an external magnetic field source present outside the catheter.

[0038] Returning to FIG. 1A, method 100 further includes operation 130 of sintering one or more 3D structures forming electrical component 210 printed in 3D printing operation 120. Sintering is generally performed at a temperature sufficient to burn or expel polymer (binding polymer) from printed electrical component 210, as well as to sinter ceramic or glass-ceramic materials used for printing. To this end, after sintering, the printed ceramic and metal materials (e.g., 221, 222, and 223) of electrical component 210 approach 100%. For example, in an embodiment in which conductive material 223 mainly comprises silver, sintering may be performed at a temperature below the melting point of silver (e.g., at a temperature not exceeding 961° C.) (in this case, the sintering temperature may be preferably limited to about 900° C. to achieve a stable sintering process). In other embodiments in which the conductive material comprises a silver-palladium alloy, sintering may be performed at a temperature below the alloy melting point (the particular melting point depends on the ratio of silver to palladium in the alloy, and depending on the composition, the melting point is generally between the melting point of silver, 961° C., and the melting point of palladium, 1,555° C.). In another example, in embodiments in which the conductive material 223 comprises copper, sintering may be performed in an oxygen-deficient environment (to avoid oxidation of the copper) at a temperature below the copper melting point of 1,084° C.

[0039] Further, optionally (depending on the particular printing technique used), method 100 may include operation 140 for separating electrical component 210 from build platform (e.g., 201 shown in FIG. 1E). Generally, depending on the type of build platform 201 (e.g., and whether it can withstand sintering 130), operation 140 is typically performed before sintering 130. Indeed, in some embodiments of the invention, particularly when small / delicate electrical components are printed that may be damaged by performing separation from the build platform before sintering, a suitable build platform 201 that can withstand the temperatures of sintering 130 may be used, and separation of the part from the platform may be performed after sintering to avoid / reduce damage to the part during the separation process.

[0040] Further, optionally, in some embodiments, it may be desirable to equip one or more of the 3D printed electrical components 210 with a surface mount fixture for installation on a circuit board via surface mount technology (SMT). According to some embodiments of the present invention, a surface mount fixture suitable for SMT is 3D printed together with the 3D printing of the components 210. In such embodiments, a material such as a silver-palladium alloy is typically used for the electrical contacts of the SMT fixture, since tin and nickel-tin, which are traditional materials typically used for the electrical contacts of SMT fixtures, are not suitable for the sintering process of the 3D printing technology of the present invention (the melting point of tin is too low and nickel-tin oxidizes during the process). To this end, in some embodiments, the 3D printing operation 120 of the method 100 further includes 3D printing of the external / SMT contacts. The 3D printed SMT contacts may be fabricated, for example, from a silver-palladium alloy (Ag—Pd) and formed with a thickness of approximately 9 μm to provide external Ag—Pd SMT electrodes for the 3D printed electrical component 210.

[0041] Alternatively or additionally, in some embodiments of the invention, the SMT contacts / fittings, or some of them, are fabricated / attached to the 3D printed electrical component 210 only after 3D printing and sintering of the component 210. To this end, in some embodiments, the method 100 further includes an operation 150 for fabricating / attaching SMT surface mounts to the 3D printed electrical component 210. Referring to FIG. 1F, four electrical components 210(c), 210(d), 210(e), and 210(f) are trivially illustrated, each including a single open magnetic circuit coil 3D printed by the techniques of the invention. The four electrical components 210(c), 210(d), 210(e), and 210(f) are shown with different variations 210S, 210S1, and 210S2 of surface mounts coupled and electrically connected to the 3D printed components. In this example, the surface mount 210S, 210S1, and 210S2 arranged on each coil component includes a pair of electrical contacts / pads (e.g., made of tin or nickel+tin) 210P1 and 210P2 that are electrically connected to respective electrical terminals 220T1 and 220TP2 of the respective coil 220 of the component and are suitable for soldering to a circuit board via SMD technology. As shown in the figures, in two variants of electrical components 210(c) and 210(d), SMT mounts are provided such that the coils 220 can be mounted on a circuit board in a so-called horizontal orientation, with their magnetic axes B parallel to the surface of the circuit board. Components 210(c) and 210(d) differ in the respective arrangement of the SMT fixture: in 210(c), the fixture is arranged along the magnetic axis B (to result in a narrower and more elongated dimension of the component), and in 210(d), the fixture is arranged alongside / parallel to the magnetic axis B (to result in a shorter and wider dimension of the component). In two variations of electrical components 210(e) and 210(f), the SMT fixture is mounted such that the coil 220 is mounted to the circuit board in a so-called vertical orientation, with its magnetic axis B perpendicular to the surface of the circuit board.Parts 210(e) and 210(f) differ in their respective placement of the SMT fixtures, where in 210(e) a single fixture is positioned along magnetic axis B (to result in a narrower and more slender / taller dimension of the part) and in 210(f) the fixture is positioned alongside / parallel to magnetic axis B (to result in a shorter and wider dimension of the part) as in 210(d). Thus, as shown in the figures, the present invention facilitates different placements of SMT fixtures on a 3D printed electrical component to provide desired physical real estate allocated thereto for desired optimization of the total dimensions of the component with the fixture for mounting inside a device such as a catheter in which it is placed, as well as facilitating proper selection of the orientation of the magnetic axis of the component relative to a circuit board to facilitate its proper accommodation for sensing applications lacking available physical real estate for placing them. In particular, it is to be understood that the fabrication of SMT fixtures 210S, 210S1 and 210S2 may be performed according to any suitable technique known in the art (e.g., by electroless or electrochemical deposition of, for example, nickel (Ni) and / or tin (Sn)) or during 3D printing as indicated above at 120. It is also notable that in embodiments in which SMT fixtures 210S, 210S1 and 210S2 are positioned to face the magnetic axis / axes of the coil, their bodies are preferably made of a non-magnetically permeable material so as not to shield the magnetic flux from the coil.

[0042] 1E-1G together illustrate several variations of electrical components 210(a)-210(g) having 3D printed open magnetic coils according to the present invention. As shown in all coils of these electrical components 210(a)-210(g), the boundaries of the bulk 220B of the electrical components / coils are printed with one or more materials other than the conductive material 223 so as to protect the conductive material of the inductor 220I from damage due to environmental conditions. In other words, the conductive material of the inductor 220I is embedded within the bulk 220B of its respective electrical component and is not exposed at the outer surface of the bulk 220B, except for its electrical contacts. As mentioned above, the spaces between adjacent conductive windings may be occupied by a 3D printed non-conductive material (e.g., the dielectric bulk material 221, or the magnetic material 222 if not conductive). For example, as shown in parts 210(c) and 210(d), the conductive windings of the inductor 220I may be spaced apart from one another by the magnetic material 223 of the magnetic core 220M (which in these examples is an insulator). This ensures that the magnetic material 223 does not form a closed loop around the conductive windings, thus maintaining the open magnetic circuit configuration of the coil. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the magnetic material may extend in places to the boundaries of the electrical component, as shown in part 210(c). In other embodiments, such as part 210(e), the windings may be spaced apart by the dielectric bulk material 221. As shown in part 210(e), in some embodiments, the model of the electrical component may also include a model for extending the conductive path 220CP from the inductor 220I of the coil to its terminal electrical contact, e.g., 220T2, or to another component 220B located anywhere within the bulk. Furthermore, as discussed above, inductor 220I may be fabricated in a coaxial / multiple helical configuration, e.g., as shown in the double helix of part 210(g), and / or in a spiral-helical configuration, e.g., as shown in part 210(h).

[0043] To this end, the present technique provides miniature electrical components having ceramic / glass-ceramic bodies with embedded highly sensitive open magnetic circuit coils that may be configured and operable as sensors (e.g., magnetic and / or position sensors, and / or orientation sensors, and / or force sensors). The miniature electrical components have small dimensions, e.g., on the order of about 0.5 mm to about 2 mm, and low-noise, e.g., about 0.1 to 1 μV / (Gauss). * They can be fabricated with high sensitivity / induced voltage in response to magnetic fields in the range of 100 Hz.

[0044] It should be noted that the illustrations of electrical components in Figures 1B-1G are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not necessarily drawn to scale or to scale. For example, in general, the number of windings in an open circuit electrical coil 220 according to the present invention may be substantially greater than those illustrated in the figures. Also, it should be understood that while the open circuit electrical coil 220 is illustrated with a rectangular shape / cross-section, in practice it may be 3D printed with various polygonal or rounded shapes / cross-sections and / or aspect ratios different than those illustrated without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0045] In view of the above, the method 100 of the present invention provides a novel and inventive technique for the fabrication of electrical components, including open magnetic circuit coils, by 3D printing. The method 100 is suitable for fabricating small coils with feature sizes as small as a few microns, and may be used in mass production to simultaneously 3D print many small coils (e.g., typically hundreds to thousands of electrical components built in parallel on the same platform) in one printing batch (especially when the printing is based on liquid bath photopolymerization techniques). This makes the technique of the present invention cost-effective for printing small coils that, when fabricated by conventional techniques, would otherwise typically require one-by-one fabrication, as well as manual fabrication steps.

[0046] To this end, the present invention also provides a novel and inventive electrical component formed by 3D printing of at least three different 3D printing materials and including one or more electrical coils in an open circuit configuration. The electrical component, for example as illustrated by Figures 1E-1G, includes a bulk formed by a non-magnetic, electrically insulating 3D printing material having at least one electrical coil within the bulk, the bulk including (a) at least one magnetic channel 222C formed by a 3D printed magnetic material embedded within the bulk, and (b) at least one electrical channel 223C formed by a 3D printed conductive material embedded within the bulk and extending between two terminals that may be exposed at the surface of the bulk to serve as electrical contacts for the electrical coil. At least one of the electrical or magnetic channels is 3D printed with a coiled profile to form multiple windings around the other one, such that the electrical channel serves as the inductor of the coil and the magnetic channel serves as its magnetic core (e.g., the electrical channel may be 3D printed with a coil / helical profile with multiple windings around the magnetic channel). The 3D printed magnetic channels that form the magnetic core are configured as an open magnetic circuit configuration so as not to surround the conductive channel with a closed loop of magnetic material.

[0047] As mentioned above, the 3D printed electrical part 210 of the present invention having an open magnetic circuit coil 220 therein is particularly suitable for use as a position and / or force sensor in a medical instrument requiring such a sensor. Referring to FIG. 2 illustrating a side view of a medical instrument 1000 (e.g., a probe / catheter) according to one embodiment of the present invention, the position and force sensor utilizes the 3D printed electrical part 210 of the present invention having an open magnetic sensor coil therein to sense the spatial location and orientation of the medical instrument and thereby the force applied to tissue in contact with the medical instrument. The medical instrument 1000 includes a housing H having a magnetic field based position sensor 300 mounted therein. The medical instrument 1000 includes one or more magnetic field sources MF that provide a reference magnetic field that can be measured by the magnetic field based position sensor 300 to determine the spatial location and orientation of the medical instrument 1000 and / or the force applied to the tissue of a patient, respectively. L and / or M.F. O It is associated with.

[0048] In an embodiment in which a force is applied to body tissue by the medical instrument 1000, the housing H of the medical instrument is disposed along a longitudinal axis L and includes a body portion M and a tip portion T coupled to a distal end of the body portion M via a banding coupler J. The banding coupler J, which may be, for example, a spring or a joint, is configured such that the orientation of the tip portion T may bend relative to the longitudinal axis L of the housing H under the application of a force T having a degree of banding corresponding to the magnitude and direction of the applied force F (force F may be applied, for example, when the tip portion T of the medical instrument is in contact with the body tissue of a patient). To measure the magnitude and direction of the force F applied to the tissue by the tip portion T, the medical instrument 1000 includes a first magnetic field source MF O (e.g., a magnetic field generating coil with associated power delivery circuitry) and a magnetic field based position sensor 300. An orientation sensor 310 and a first magnetic field source MF O are disposed in the housing on different sides of the joint J, typically a first magnetic field source MF Ois located at the tip portion T and the orientation sensor 310 is located at the body portion M (although the opposite arrangement may also be applicable). O is constructed and positioned within the housing H (e.g., within the tip T) to generate a magnetic field having flux lines / axis generally aligned with the longitudinal axis L of the housing H. The orientation sensor 310 is O The orientation sensor 310 includes a plurality of at least three open magnetic circuit coils 220.1, 220.2, and 220.3 according to the present invention, capable of sensing a magnetic field generated by the magnetic field generated by the magnetic field source MF. The three open magnetic circuit coils 220.1, 220.2, and 220.3 of the orientation sensor 310 are generally arranged with their magnetic axes collinear with one another and parallel to the longitudinal axis L of the housing H, but non-coplanar, such that the orientation sensor 310 and the magnetic field source MF O The relative orientation between the magnetic field source MF sensed by the three coils is understood by those skilled in the art. OThe magnetic field magnitude of the coils 220.1, 220.2 and 220.3 can be determined around two orientation axes (e.g., pitch and yaw). In this non-limiting example, the housing has a narrow width / diameter of about 2 mm, and the three open magnetic circuit coils 220.1, 220.2 and 220.3 are part of the electrical component 210(a) illustrated in FIG. 1E, fabricated according to the techniques of the present invention. As described above, the electrical component 210(a) having a solid ceramic or glass ceramic bulk / body is attached to the body portion M of the housing and is optionally connected directly to signal lines (not specifically shown) for receiving the coil signals without the need for an intermediate circuit board (the signal lines may be soldered directly to the terminals of the coils 220.1, 220.2 and 220.3 in the electrical component 210(a)). Preferably, the ceramic or glass-ceramic body of the electrical component 210(a) has a cylindrical / donut structure as described above with a hole in the middle, and is mounted with its axis of symmetry parallel to the longitudinal axis of the housing so that various components / connections of the instrument can be arranged to pass from the body to the tip of the housing (e.g., passage of power delivery lines to the magnetic field source and / or other connections / fluid lines that may be provided with the medical instrument). Advantageously, utilizing the configuration of the electrical component 210(a) for the orientation sensor 310 facilitates reliable, accurate, and cost-effective mounting and electrical connection of the three open magnetic circuit coils 220.1, 220.2, and 220.3 within the narrow dimensions of the housing H. It is noted that in an alternative embodiment, the orientation sensor 310 may include the three open magnetic circuit coils 220.1, 220.2, and 220.3 as separate electrical components fabricated in accordance with the present invention. For example, orientation sensor 310 may include a rigid flat circuit board (e.g., disk-like shape with a hole in the center) with three electronic components, such as 210(e) described above with reference to FIG. 1F, mounted vertically on a rigid round circuit board by their SMT contacts, such that open magnetic circuit coils embedded therein function as coils 220.1, 220.2, and 220.3 of orientation sensor 310.In yet another embodiment, the orientation sensor 310 may be implemented with a flexible / foil circuit board, such as the flex board CB of the position sensor 320 discussed below, which is bent into a cylindrical shape around the longitudinal axis L of the housing H. Three electronic components, such as 210(c) described above with reference to FIG. 1F, may be mounted horizontally on the cylindrically bent board (e.g., CB) by their SMT contacts such that their magnetic axes are parallel to the longitudinal axis L, thus providing that the open magnetic circuit coils embedded therein function as the coils 220.1, 220.2, and 220.3 of the orientation sensor 310. To this end, given the techniques of the present invention, the skilled person will be able to easily determine the magnetic field source MF. O The orientation of the sensor 310 with respect to the magnetic field source MF O It will be readily apparent how the force vector F applied to the tissue can be determined based on measurements of the magnetic field generated by the banding coupler J. Moreover, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate how the force vector F applied to the tissue can be determined based on the measured orientation and properties (e.g., spring constant) of the banding coupler J.

[0049] Alternatively or additionally, in some embodiments, the position sensor 300 is coupled to at least one external magnetic field source MF L The position and orientation sensor 320 includes a position and orientation sensor 320 adapted to measure the spatial position and orientation of the medical instrument 1000 relative to a frame of reference provided by a magnetic field from an external magnetic field source MF. The position and orientation sensor 320 is constructed in accordance with the techniques of the present invention and includes three open magnetic circuit coils 220 arranged within the housing H such that their magnetic axes are not parallel to one another and span three-dimensional coordinates. The three open magnetic circuit coils 220 are thus coupled to the external magnetic field source MF. L MF, and such measurements facilitate the measurement of different vector components of the magnetic field generated by the external magnetic field source MF, as will be readily understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. L The magnetic field can be determined relative to a reference frame defined by the magnetic field of

[0050] In an embodiment, for example, as illustrated in the figure, the position and orientation sensor 320 comprises a flexible circuit board CB folded into a cylindrical shape and having at least two preferably similar open magnetic circuit coils 220 according to the invention mounted on the flexible circuit board CB such that their magnetic axes are not substantially parallel to each other and not substantially parallel (typically perpendicular) to the longitudinal axis L of the housing H. The two preferably similar open magnetic circuit coils 220 can be implemented by an electrical component such as 210(b) having high magnetic susceptibility but a low profile / height along its magnetic axis, so that it can be mounted in a narrow housing with its magnetic axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis L of the housing H. Preferably, as shown in the figure, the two open magnetic circuit coils 220 can be implemented by an electrical component such as 210(f) of the invention, similar to 210(b) having only SMT contacts mounted thereon. Thus, the electronic component 210(f) with its two coils can be mounted on the flexible circuit board CB by cost-effective SMT mounting techniques. In addition, the position and orientation sensor 320 includes a third open magnetic circuit coil arranged in the housing such that its magnetic axis is not parallel to the magnetic axes of the two other coils, preferably such that its magnetic axis is substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis L of the housing H. In the illustrated embodiment in which the position sensor 300 also includes the orientation sensor 310, the third open magnetic circuit coil of the position and orientation sensor 320 may be one of the coils of the orientation sensor 310, e.g., coil 220.1. Alternatively, for example, in an embodiment in which the position sensor 300 does not include the orientation sensor 310, the third open magnetic circuit coil may also be arranged on the flexible substrate CB (e.g., with its axis substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis L). In such an embodiment, the third coil may be implemented by an electrical component of the present invention, for example the electrical component 210(c) illustrated in FIG. 1F, and may optionally be mounted on the flexible substrate CB via SMT techniques.

[0051] Thus, the present invention provides a novel and inventive position sensor 300 configuration that utilizes novel and inventive 3D printed open magnetic circuit coils to facilitate cost-effective and reliable attachment of positions within medical instruments with tight dimensions. As described above, the position sensor 300 may include an orientation sensor 310 suitable for determining, for example, forces applied to tissue by a medical instrument and including three open magnetic circuit coils configured in accordance with the present invention, and / or a position and orientation sensor 320 configured in accordance with the present invention and including three open magnetic circuit coils operable to determine the spatial position and orientation of the medical instrument 1000 (if the position sensor 300 includes both sensors 310 and 320, a total of five open magnetic circuit coils may be sufficient to perform the measurements). EXAMPLES

[0052] Example 1. An electrical component comprising one or more electrical coils, the electrical component being formed by 3D printing of at least three different 3D printing materials having a spatial distribution that results in an open magnetic circuit configuration of at least one of the one or more electrical coils, the electrical component being: a bulk formed by a non-magnetic dielectric 3D printing material; At least one electric coil in an open magnetic circuit configuration, 3D printed in bulk, at least one magnetic channel including a 3D printed magnetic material in the bulk and forming a magnetic core of at least one electric coil; and at least one electrical coil forming an inductor of the at least one electrical coil, the at least one electrical channel having a coil / helical profile with a plurality of electrically connected conductive windings arranged to surround a magnetic channel of a magnetic core, the at least one electrical coil including a 3D printed conductive material in a bulk; An electrical component in which the magnetic channel of the magnetic core is constructed and operative in an open magnetic circuit configuration and includes magnetic material that occupies a central region of the inductor coil / helical profile but does not surround the conductive windings with a closed loop of magnetic material.

[0053] Example 2. The electrical component of example 1, including conductive windings that are electrically connected and distributed among different 3D printed layers of the electrical component, thereby forming a helical arrangement of electrically connected conductive windings.

[0054] Example 3. An electrical component as described in Example 2, wherein the thickness of the 3D printed layer is approximately 5 to 15 μm, thereby resulting in a pitch of the helical arrangement of the conductive windings along the printing direction of the 3D printed layer that is approximately 10 μm to 30 μm, which is approximately twice the pitch of the 3D printed layer.

[0055] Example 4. The electrical component of Example 1, comprising a plurality of electrically connected conductive windings arranged concentrically within one or more 3D printed layers of the electrical component, thereby forming a spiral arrangement of conductive windings within the one or more 3D printed layers.

[0056] Example 5. The electrical component of Example 4, wherein the resolution of the 3D printed layer after sintering is approximately 15-30 μm, thereby resulting in a pitch of the spiral arrangement of the conductive windings relative to the lateral plane of the 3D printed layer that is approximately twice the resolution of the 3D printed layer.

[0057] Example 6. The electrical component of example 5, comprising a plurality of spiral arrangements of electrically connected conductive windings, the electrically connected conductive windings being dispersed in different 3D printed layers of the bulk and electrically connected between them to form a spiral-helical arrangement of electrically connected conductive windings.

[0058] Example 7. The electrical component of example 1, wherein a space between adjacent windings of the plurality of electrically connected conductive windings is occupied by a 3D printed non-conductive material, the space being one of a non-magnetic dielectric material and a 3D printed magnetic material.

[0059] Example 8. The electrical component of example 1, wherein the 3D printed conductive material of the inductor is fully embedded within the bulk and not exposed at the exterior surface of the bulk, such that the inductor is isolated from environmental conditions that may degrade its physical / conductive properties.

[0060] Example 9. The following: the conductive material comprises silver; the conductive material comprises silver; the conductive material comprises a silver-palladium alloy; the magnetic material comprises a ceramic-ferrite material; the magnetic material comprises a metallic material; The magnetic material has a relative permeability μ of about 100 or more r A soft magnetic material having The electrical component of embodiment 1, wherein the non-magnetic dielectric material is at least one of a ceramic or a glass-ceramic material.

[0061] Example 10. A method of fabricating one or more electrical components including one or more electrical coils, comprising: at least one electric coil of the one or more electric coils has an open magnetic circuit configuration; The method is: providing a model of one or more electrical components, the model representing three-dimensional spatial distributions of at least three materials, including a 3D distribution of a magnetic material, a 3D distribution of a conductive material, and a 3D distribution of a non-magnetic dielectric material, within at least one electrical coil having an open magnetic circuit configuration; A three-dimensional spatial distribution of at least three materials, a spatial distribution in the bulk of at least one electric coil formed by a non-magnetic dielectric material; a spatial distribution of magnetic material defining at least one magnetic channel within a bulk associated with a magnetic core of at least one electric coil; - a spatial distribution of conductive material associated with at least one electric coil inductor and defining at least one electric channel in the bulk, the spatial distribution having a coiled / helical geometry with a plurality of electrically connected conductive windings arranged to surround the magnetic channel; the spatial distribution of the magnetic material indicates that it has an open magnetic circuit configuration, the magnetic material occupies a central region of the inductor's coil / helical profile, but does not surround the inductor's conductive windings with a closed loop of magnetic material; applying 3D printing to print one or more electrical components, thereby obtaining at least one electrical coil having an open magnetic circuit configuration that promotes efficient coupling of a magnetic flux path from an external magnetic field through a magnetic core and results in a high induced voltage in response to the external magnetic field.

[0062] Example 11. Applying 3D printing (a) providing a hardenable resin corresponding to at least three materials, respectively, whereby the hardenable resin comprises: a magnetic material resin comprising particles of magnetic material suspended in a curable polymer binder; a conductive material resin comprising particles of a conductive material suspended in a curable polymer binder; a non-magnetic dielectric material resin comprising particles of non-magnetic dielectric material suspended in a curable polymer binder; (b) 3D printing a curable resin layer by layer according to a three-dimensional spatial distribution of the model to obtain one or more 3D structures having one or more electrical components, wherein 3D printing each layer includes: - printing and curing a magnetic material in areas of the layer corresponding to one or more magnetic cores of one or more electric coils; - printing and curing a conductive material in areas of the layer corresponding to one or more inductors of one or more electrical coils; and - printing and curing a non-magnetic dielectric material at least near an interface of the conductive material of the one or more inductors that is not in contact with the one or more magnetic cores; The 3D printing is performed such that a magnetic core of at least one coil in an open magnetic circuit configuration occupies a central region of the inductor coil / helical profile but does not surround the conductive windings of the inductor with a continuous closed-loop channel of magnetic material; (c) sintering the one or more 3D structures at a temperature sufficient to combust or expel the polymer therefrom, thereby achieving near 100% ceramic or metallic density.

[0063] Example 12. The method of example 10, in which 3D printing is performed by successive printing of layers approximately 5-15 μm thick along the printing direction (z), such that the pitch of the conductive windings along the printing direction (z) is approximately twice the thickness of the layers, about 10 μm to 30 μm, thereby resulting in the printing of small electrical coils with high winding density.

[0064] Example 13. The method of example 10, suitable for mass production of electronic components, wherein the model represents the material distribution in an arrangement of multiple electrical components that are 3D printed simultaneously.

[0065] Example 14. The method of example 10, wherein the boundary of the bulk is printed with one or more materials other than a conductive material such that the inductor is completely embedded within the bulk of its respective electronic component and is not exposed at the outer surface of the bulk except for the electrical contacts at its terminal ends.

[0066] Example 15. The following: - the one or more materials printed at the boundary of the bulk include a non-magnetic dielectric material; and The method of embodiment 14, wherein at least one of the two or more materials printed at the boundary of the bulk includes a non-magnetic dielectric material and a magnetic material, and the non-magnetic dielectric material is inserted between separate regions of the magnetic material at the boundary to prevent the formation of a closed-loop magnetic channel surrounding the conductive winding of the inductor.

[0067] Example 16. The method of example 10, wherein the 3D printing is performed using a vat photopolymerization 3D printing process.

[0068] Example 17. The following: the conductive material comprises silver, and the method comprises sintering the one or more 3D structures at a temperature below 961°C; the conductive material comprises copper, and the method comprises sintering the one or more 3D structures in an oxygen-deficient environment (such as a nitrogen-enriched environment) at a temperature below 1084°C; the conductive material comprises a silver-palladium alloy, and the method comprises sintering the one or more 3D structures at a temperature below the melting point of the silver-palladium alloy; the magnetic material comprises a ceramic-ferrite material; the magnetic material comprises a metallic material; The magnetic material has a relative permeability μ of about 100 or more r having The method of embodiment 10, wherein the non-magnetic dielectric material comprises a ceramic or glass-ceramic material, and the method comprises sintering the one or more 3D structures at a temperature sufficient to fire the ceramic or glass-ceramic material.

[0069] Example 18. The method of example 10, further comprising providing a contact element connected to the electrical channel defining an inductor of the at least one electrical coil in a terminal area where the conductive material of the electrical channel is exposed from the bulk, thereby enabling the at least one electrical coil to be mounted to a circuit board.

[0070] Example 19. A magnetic sensor including one or more electrical coils, the magnetic sensor being formed by 3D printing of at least three different 3D printing materials; and a bulk formed by a non-magnetic dielectric 3D printing material; at least one electric coil within the bulk; At least one electric coil at least one magnetic channel including a 3D printed magnetic material embedded within the bulk; and at least one electrical coil including at least one electrical channel, the at least one electrical channel including a 3D printed conductive material embedded within the bulk and extending therethrough between two terminal ends of the electrical channel of the electrical coil, the terminal ends being exposed at a surface of the bulk and serving as electrical contacts for the electrical coil; at least one of the electric channel and the magnetic channel is 3D printed in the bulk and has a coiled profile forming a plurality of windings around the other of the electric channel and the magnetic channel, whereby the at least one electric channel is configured and operable as an inductor of at least one electric coil, and the at least one magnetic channel is configured and operable as a magnetic core of the inductor of the at least one electric coil; A magnetic sensor, wherein the magnetic channel forming the magnetic core is configured in an open magnetic circuit configuration such that the conductive channel does not surround a closed loop of magnetic material, thereby facilitating efficient coupling of magnetic flux passage from an external magnetic field through the magnetic core and enabling a high induced voltage in at least one electric coil in response to the external magnetic field.

[0071] Example 20. A method of fabricating one or more magnetic sensors including one or more electric coils, wherein at least one electric coil of the one or more electric coils has an open magnetic circuit configuration, the method comprising: providing a model of the one or more magnetic sensors, the model representing three-dimensional spatial distributions of at least three materials, including a 3D distribution of a magnetic material, a 3D distribution of a conductive material, and a 3D distribution of a non-magnetic dielectric material, within at least one electric coil having an open magnetic circuit configuration; A three-dimensional spatial distribution of at least three materials, a spatial distribution in the bulk of at least one electric coil formed by a non-magnetic dielectric material; a spatial distribution of magnetic material defining at least one magnetic channel within a bulk associated with a magnetic core of at least one electric coil; a spatial distribution of conductive material defining at least one electrical channel within a bulk associated with an inductor of at least one electrical coil; at least one of the spatial distribution of magnetic material defining the magnetic channel of the at least one electric coil and the spatial distribution of conductive material defining the electric channel of the at least one electric coil has a coiled configuration forming a plurality of windings around the other of the electric channel and the magnetic channel, whereby the at least one electric channel is configured and operative as an inductor of the at least one electric coil and the at least one magnetic channel is configured and operative as a magnetic core of the inductor of the at least one electric coil; the spatial distribution of the magnetic material defining the magnetic channel has an open magnetic circuit configuration and does not surround the conductive channel with a closed loop of magnetic material; applying 3D printing to print one or more magnetic sensors, thereby obtaining at least one electric coil having an open magnetic circuit configuration that facilitates efficient coupling of a magnetic flux path from an external magnetic field through a magnetic core and results in a high induced voltage in response to the external magnetic field.

[0072] [Embodiment] (1) An electrical component comprising one or more electrical coils, the electrical component being formed by 3D printing of at least three different 3D printing materials having a spatial distribution that results in an open magnetic circuit configuration of at least one electrical coil of the one or more electrical coils, the electrical component comprising: a bulk formed by a non-magnetic dielectric 3D printing material; at least one electric coil of the open magnetic circuit configuration 3D printed within the bulk, at least one magnetic channel comprising a 3D printed magnetic material within said bulk and forming a magnetic core of said at least one electric coil; and at least one electric coil forming an inductor of said at least one electric coil, said at least one electric channel having a coil / helical profile with a plurality of electrically connected conductive windings arranged to surround said magnetic channel of said magnetic core, said at least one electric coil comprising a 3D printed conductive material in said bulk; the magnetic channel of the magnetic core is configured and operative in the open magnetic circuit configuration and includes magnetic material that occupies a central region of the coil / helical profile of the inductor but does not surround the conductive winding with a closed loop of magnetic material. (2) The electrical component of claim 1, wherein the electrically connected conductive windings include conductive windings distributed on different 3D printed layers of the electrical component, thereby forming a helical arrangement of electrically connected conductive windings. (3) The electrical component of embodiment 2, wherein the thickness of the 3D printed layer is approximately 5 to 15 μm, thereby resulting in a pitch of the helical arrangement of the conductive windings along the printing direction of the 3D printed layer that is approximately 10 μm to 30 μm, which is approximately twice the pitch of the 3D printed layer. (4) The electrical component of embodiment 1, wherein the electrically connected conductive windings include a plurality of conductive windings arranged concentrically within one or more 3D printed layers of the electrical component, thereby forming a spiral arrangement of conductive windings within the one or more 3D printed layers. (5) The electrical component of claim 4, wherein the resolution of the sintered 3D printed layer is approximately 15 to 30 μm, thereby resulting in a pitch of the spiral arrangement of the conductive windings relative to a lateral plane of the 3D printed layer that is approximately twice the resolution of the 3D printed layer.

[0073] (6) The electrical component of claim 5, wherein the electrically connected conductive windings include a plurality of the spiral arrangements of conductive windings distributed in different 3D printed layers of the bulk and electrically connected therebetween to form a spiral-helical arrangement of the electrically connected conductive windings. (7) The electrical component of claim 1, wherein spaces between adjacent windings of the plurality of electrically connected conductive windings are occupied by a 3D printed non-conductive material that is one of the non-magnetic dielectric material and the 3D printed magnetic material. (8) The electrical component of embodiment 1, wherein the 3D printed conductive material of the inductor is completely embedded within the bulk and not exposed at an outer surface of the bulk so as to isolate the inductor from environmental conditions that may degrade its physical / conductive properties. (9) The following: - the conductive material comprises silver; - the conductive material comprises copper; the conductive material comprises a silver-palladium alloy; the magnetic material comprises a ceramic-ferrite material; the magnetic material comprises a metallic material; the magnetic material has a relative permeability μ of approximately 100 or more r A soft magnetic material having - the non-magnetic dielectric material is at least one of a ceramic or a glass-ceramic material. (10) A method of fabricating one or more electrical components comprising one or more electrical coils, comprising: At least one electric coil of the one or more electric coils has an open magnetic circuit configuration, and the method further comprises: providing a model of the one or more electrical components, the model representing three-dimensional spatial distributions of at least three materials, including a 3D distribution of a magnetic material, a 3D distribution of a conductive material, and a 3D distribution of a non-magnetic dielectric material, within the at least one electrical coil having an open magnetic circuit configuration; The three-dimensional spatial distribution of the at least three materials comprises: a spatial distribution of the bulk of said at least one electric coil formed by a non-magnetic dielectric material; a spatial distribution of magnetic material defining at least one magnetic channel in said bulk associated with a magnetic core of said at least one electric coil; a spatial distribution of conductive material associated with an inductor of said at least one electric coil and defining at least one electric channel in said bulk, said conductive material having a coiled / helical geometry with a plurality of electrically connected conductive windings arranged to surround said magnetic channel; the spatial distribution of the magnetic material having the open magnetic circuit configuration, where the magnetic material occupies a central region of the coil / helical profile of the inductor but does not surround the conductive winding of the inductor with a closed loop of the magnetic material; applying 3D printing to print the one or more electrical components, thereby obtaining the at least one electrical coil having an open magnetic circuit configuration that promotes efficient coupling of a magnetic flux path from an external magnetic field through the magnetic core and results in a high induced voltage in response to the external magnetic field.

[0074] (11) The applying of the 3D printing, (a) providing a hardenable resin corresponding to each of the at least three materials, whereby the hardenable resin comprises: a magnetic material resin comprising particles of magnetic material suspended in a curable polymer binder; a conductive material resin comprising particles of a conductive material suspended in a curable polymer binder; a non-magnetic dielectric material resin comprising particles of non-magnetic dielectric material suspended in a curable polymer binder; (b) 3D printing the curable resin layer by layer according to the three-dimensional spatial distribution of the model to obtain one or more 3D structures having the one or more electrical components, wherein 3D printing each layer comprises: - printing and curing said magnetic material in areas of said layer corresponding to one or more magnetic cores of said one or more electric coils; - printing and curing the conductive material in areas of the layer corresponding to one or more inductors of the one or more electrical coils; and - printing and curing the non-magnetic dielectric material at least near an interface of the conductive material of the one or more inductors that is not in contact with the one or more magnetic cores; the 3D printing is performed such that the magnetic core of the at least one coil in the open magnetic circuit configuration occupies the central region of the coil / helical profile of the inductor but does not surround the conductive winding of the inductor with a continuous closed loop channel of the magnetic material; (c) sintering the one or more 3D structures at a temperature sufficient to combust or expel polymer therefrom, thereby achieving near 100% ceramic or metallic density in the electrical component. (12) The method of embodiment 10, wherein the 3D printing is performed with successive printing of layers approximately 5 to 15 μm thick along the printing direction (z), such that the pitch of the conductive windings along the printing direction (z) is approximately 2 times the thickness of the layers, approximately 10 μm to 30 μm, thereby resulting in the printing of compact electrical coils with high winding density. (13) The method of claim 10, suitable for mass production of electronic components, wherein the model represents material distribution in an arrangement of multiple of the electrical components that are 3D printed simultaneously. (14) The method of embodiment 10, wherein the boundary of the bulk is printed with one or more materials other than the conductive material such that the inductor is completely embedded within the bulk of its respective electronic component and is not exposed at the outer surface of the bulk except for the electrical contacts at its terminal ends. (15) The following: - the one or more materials printed at the boundary of the bulk include the non-magnetic dielectric material; and The method of embodiment 14, wherein the one or more materials printed at the boundary of the bulk include the non-magnetic dielectric material and the magnetic material, the non-magnetic dielectric material being interposed between separate regions of the magnetic material at the boundary so as to prevent the formation of a closed-loop magnetic channel surrounding the conductive winding of the inductor.

[0075] (16) The method of claim 10, wherein the 3D printing is performed using a vat photopolymerization 3D printing process. (17) The following: - the conductive material comprises silver, and the method comprises sintering the one or more 3D structures at a temperature below 961°C; - the conductive material comprises copper, and the method comprises sintering the one or more 3D structures at a temperature below 1084°C in an oxygen-deficient environment (such as a nitrogen-enriched environment), - the conductive material comprises a silver-palladium alloy, and the method comprises sintering the one or more 3D structures at a temperature below the melting point of the silver-palladium alloy; the magnetic material comprises a ceramic-ferrite material; the magnetic material comprises a metallic material; the magnetic material has a relative permeability μ of approximately 100 or more r having - the non-magnetic dielectric material comprises a ceramic or glass-ceramic material, and the method comprises sintering the one or more 3D structures at a temperature sufficient to fire the ceramic or glass-ceramic material. (18) The method of claim 10, further comprising providing a contact element connected to the electrical channel defining the inductor of the at least one electrical coil at a terminal area where the conductive material of the electrical channel is exposed from the bulk, thereby enabling the at least one electrical coil to be mounted to a circuit board. (19) A magnetic sensor having one or more electric coils, the magnetic sensor is formed by 3D printing of at least three different 3D printing materials; and a bulk formed by a non-magnetic dielectric 3D printing material; at least one electric coil within the bulk, whereby the at least one electric coil comprises: at least one magnetic channel comprising a 3D printed magnetic material embedded within said bulk; and at least one electrical coil including at least one electrical channel, the at least one electrical channel including a 3D printed conductive material embedded within and extending therethrough between two terminal ends of the electrical channel of the electrical coil, the terminal ends being exposed at a surface of the bulk and serving as electrical contacts for the electrical coil; at least one of the electric channel and the magnetic channel is 3D printed within the bulk and has a coiled profile forming a plurality of windings around the other of the electric channel and the magnetic channel, whereby the at least one electric channel is configured and operable as an inductor of the at least one electric coil, and the at least one magnetic channel is configured and operable as a magnetic core of the inductor of the at least one electric coil; A magnetic sensor, wherein the magnetic channel forming the magnetic core is configured in an open magnetic circuit configuration such that the conductive channel does not surround the conductive channel with a closed loop of magnetic material, thereby facilitating efficient coupling of magnetic flux path from an external magnetic field through the magnetic core and enabling a high induced voltage in the at least one electric coil in response to the external magnetic field. (20) A method of fabricating one or more magnetic sensors comprising one or more electrical coils, comprising: at least one electric coil of the one or more electric coils has an open magnetic circuit configuration; The method comprises: providing a model of the one or more magnetic sensors, the model representing a three-dimensional spatial distribution of at least three materials in the at least one electric coil having an open magnetic circuit configuration, the three-dimensional spatial distribution including a 3D distribution of a magnetic material, a 3D distribution of a conductive material, and a 3D distribution of a non-magnetic dielectric material; The three-dimensional spatial distribution of the at least three materials comprises: a spatial distribution of the bulk of said at least one electric coil formed by a non-magnetic dielectric material; a spatial distribution of said magnetic material defining at least one magnetic channel in said bulk associated with a magnetic core of said at least one electric coil; a spatial distribution of the conductive material defining at least one electrical channel in the bulk associated with an inductor of the at least one electrical coil; at least one of the spatial distribution of magnetic material defining the magnetic channel of the at least one electric coil and the spatial distribution of conductive material defining the electric channel of the at least one electric coil has a coiled configuration forming a plurality of windings around the other of the electric channel and the magnetic channel, whereby the at least one electric channel is configured and operative as an inductor of the at least one electric coil and the at least one magnetic channel is configured and operative as a magnetic core of the inductor of the at least one electric coil; the spatial distribution of the magnetic material defining the magnetic channel has the open magnetic circuit configuration and does not surround the conductive channel with a closed loop of the magnetic material; and applying 3D printing to print the one or more magnetic sensors, thereby obtaining the at least one electric coil having an open magnetic circuit configuration that promotes efficient coupling of a magnetic flux path from an external magnetic field through the magnetic core and results in a high induced voltage in response to the external magnetic field.

Claims

1. 1. An electrical component comprising one or more electrical coils, the electrical component being formed by 3D printing of at least three different 3D printing materials having a spatial distribution that results in an open magnetic circuit configuration of at least one electrical coil of the one or more electrical coils, the electrical component comprising: a bulk formed by a non-magnetic dielectric 3D printing material; at least one electric coil of the open magnetic circuit configuration 3D printed within the bulk, at least one magnetic channel comprising a 3D printed magnetic material in said bulk and forming a magnetic core of said at least one electric coil; and at least one electric coil forming an inductor of said at least one electric coil, said at least one electric channel having a coil / helical profile with a plurality of electrically connected conductive windings arranged to surround said magnetic channel of said magnetic core, said at least one electric coil comprising a 3D printed conductive material in said bulk, the magnetic channel of the magnetic core is configured and operative in the open magnetic circuit configuration and includes a magnetic material that occupies a central region of the coil / helical profile of the inductor but does not surround the conductive winding with a closed loop of the magnetic material.

2. 10. The electrical component of claim 1 , wherein the electrically connected conductive windings comprise conductive windings distributed among different 3D printed layers of the electrical component, thereby forming a helical arrangement of electrically connected conductive windings.

3. 3. The electrical component of claim 2, wherein a thickness of the 3D printed layer is approximately 5-15 μm, thereby resulting in a pitch of the helical arrangement of conductive windings along a printing direction of the 3D printed layer that is approximately twice the pitch of the 3D printed layer, approximately 10 μm-30 μm.

4. 2. The electrical component of claim 1 , wherein the electrically connected conductive windings comprise a plurality of conductive windings arranged concentrically within one or more 3D printed layers of the electrical component, thereby forming a spiral arrangement of conductive windings within the one or more 3D printed layers.

5. 5. The electrical component of claim 4, wherein a resolution of the 3D printed layer after sintering is approximately 15-30 μm, thereby resulting in a pitch of the spiral arrangement of conductive windings relative to a lateral plane of the 3D printed layer that is approximately twice the resolution of the 3D printed layer.

6. 6. The electrical component of claim 5, wherein the electrically connected conductive windings include a plurality of said spiral arrangements of conductive windings distributed among different 3D printed layers of the bulk and electrically connected therebetween to form a spiral-helical arrangement of the electrically connected conductive windings.

7. 2. The electrical component of claim 1 , wherein spaces between adjacent turns of the plurality of electrically connected conductive windings are occupied by a 3D printed non-conductive material that is one of the non-magnetic dielectric material and the 3D printed magnetic material.

8. 2. The electrical component of claim 1 , wherein the 3D printed conductive material of the inductor is fully embedded within the bulk and not exposed at an outer surface of the bulk so as to isolate the inductor from environmental conditions that may degrade its physical / conductive properties.

9. below: - the conductive material comprises silver; - the conductive material comprises copper; - the conductive material comprises a silver-palladium alloy; - the magnetic material comprises a ceramic-ferrite material; - the magnetic material comprises a metallic material, the magnetic material has a relative permeability μ of approximately 100 or more ｒ A soft magnetic material having The electrical component of claim 1, wherein the non-magnetic dielectric material is at least one of: a ceramic or a glass-ceramic material.

10. 1. A method of fabricating one or more electrical components comprising one or more electrical coils, comprising: At least one electric coil of the one or more electric coils has an open magnetic circuit configuration, and the method further comprises: providing a model of the one or more electrical components, the model representing three-dimensional spatial distributions of at least three materials, including a 3D distribution of a magnetic material, a 3D distribution of a conductive material, and a 3D distribution of a non-magnetic dielectric material, within the at least one electrical coil having the open magnetic circuit configuration; The three-dimensional spatial distribution of the at least three materials comprises: the spatial distribution of the bulk of said at least one electric coil formed by a non-magnetic dielectric material; a spatial distribution of magnetic material defining at least one magnetic channel in said bulk associated with a magnetic core of said at least one electric coil; a spatial distribution of conductive material associated with an inductor of said at least one electric coil and defining at least one electric channel in said bulk, said conductive material having a coiled / helical geometry with a plurality of electrically connected conductive windings arranged to surround said magnetic channel; the spatial distribution of the magnetic material having the open magnetic circuit configuration, indicating that the magnetic material occupies a central region of the coil / helical profile of the inductor but does not surround the conductive winding of the inductor with a closed loop of the magnetic material; and applying 3D printing to print the one or more electrical components, thereby obtaining the at least one electrical coil having an open magnetic circuit configuration that promotes efficient coupling of a magnetic flux path from an external magnetic field through the magnetic core and results in a high induced voltage in response to the external magnetic field.

11. applying the 3D printing (a) providing a hardenable resin corresponding to each of the at least three materials, whereby the hardenable resin comprises: a magnetic material resin comprising particles of magnetic material suspended in a curable polymer binder; a conductive material resin comprising particles of a conductive material suspended in a curable polymer binder; a non-magnetic dielectric material resin comprising particles of non-magnetic dielectric material suspended in a curable polymer binder; (b) 3D printing the curable resin layer by layer according to the three-dimensional spatial distribution of the model to obtain one or more 3D structures having the one or more electrical components, wherein 3D printing each layer comprises: - printing and curing said magnetic material in areas of said layer corresponding to one or more magnetic cores of said one or more electric coils; - printing and curing said conductive material in areas of said layer corresponding to one or more inductors of said one or more electric coils; and - printing and curing the non-magnetic dielectric material at least near the interface of the conductive material of the one or more inductors that is not in contact with the one or more magnetic cores; the 3D printing is performed such that the magnetic core of the at least one coil in the open magnetic circuit configuration occupies the central region of the coil / helical profile of the inductor but does not surround the conductive winding of the inductor with a continuous closed-loop channel of magnetic material; 11. The method of claim 10, comprising: (c) sintering the one or more 3D structures at a temperature sufficient to combust or expel polymer therefrom, thereby achieving near 100% ceramic or metallic density in the electrical component.

12. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the 3D printing is performed with successive printing of layers approximately 5-15 μm thick along the printing direction (z), such that the pitch of the conductive windings along the printing direction (z) is approximately twice the thickness of the layers, about 10 μm to 30 μm, thereby resulting in the printing of compact electrical coils with high winding density.

13. The method of claim 10 , suitable for mass production of electronic components, wherein the model represents material distribution in an arrangement of multiple said electrical components that are 3D printed simultaneously.

14. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein a boundary of the bulk is printed with one or more materials other than the conductive material such that the inductor is completely embedded within the bulk of its respective electronic component and is not exposed at an outer surface of the bulk except for electrical contacts at its terminal ends.

15. below: - the one or more materials printed at the boundary of the bulk include the non-magnetic dielectric material; and The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more materials printed at the boundary of the bulk include the non-magnetic dielectric material and the magnetic material, the non-magnetic dielectric material being interposed between separate regions of the magnetic material at the boundary so as to prevent the formation of a closed-loop magnetic channel surrounding the conductive winding of the inductor.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein the 3D printing is performed utilizing a vat photopolymerization 3D printing process.

17. below: - the conductive material comprises silver and the method comprises sintering the one or more 3D structures at a temperature below 961°C; the conductive material comprises copper, and the method comprises sintering the one or more 3D structures at a temperature below 1084°C in an oxygen-deficient environment (such as a nitrogen-enriched environment); - the conductive material comprises a silver-palladium alloy, and the method comprises sintering the one or more 3D structures at a temperature below the melting point of the silver-palladium alloy; - the magnetic material comprises a ceramic-ferrite material; - the magnetic material comprises a metallic material, the magnetic material has a relative permeability μ of approximately 100 or more ｒ having The method of claim 10, wherein at least one of the following is present: the non-magnetic dielectric material comprises a ceramic or glass-ceramic material, and the method comprises sintering the one or more 3D structures at a temperature sufficient to fire the ceramic or glass-ceramic material.

18. 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising providing a terminal area of ​​the electrical channel where the conductive material of the electrical channel is exposed from the bulk with a contact element connected to the electrical channel defining the inductor of the at least one electrical coil, thereby enabling the at least one electrical coil to be mounted to a circuit board.

19. 1. A magnetic sensor comprising one or more electrical coils, the magnetic sensor is formed by 3D printing of at least three different 3D printing materials; and a bulk formed by a non-magnetic dielectric 3D printing material; at least one electric coil within said bulk, whereby said at least one electric coil comprises: - at least one magnetic channel comprising a 3D printed magnetic material embedded within said bulk; and at least one electrical coil comprising at least one electrical channel, the at least one electrical channel comprising a 3D printed conductive material embedded within and extending therethrough between two terminal ends of the electrical channel of the electrical coil, the terminal ends being exposed at a surface of the bulk and serving as electrical contacts for the electrical coil; at least one of the electric channel and the magnetic channel is 3D printed within the bulk and has a coiled profile forming a plurality of windings around the other of the electric channel and the magnetic channel, whereby the at least one electric channel is configured and operable as an inductor of the at least one electric coil, and the at least one magnetic channel is configured and operable as a magnetic core of the inductor of the at least one electric coil; A magnetic sensor, wherein the magnetic channel forming the magnetic core is configured in an open magnetic circuit configuration such that the conductive channel does not surround the conductive channel with a closed loop of magnetic material, thereby facilitating efficient coupling of magnetic flux path from an external magnetic field through the magnetic core and enabling a high induced voltage in the at least one electric coil in response to the external magnetic field.

20. 1. A method of fabricating one or more magnetic sensors comprising one or more electrical coils, comprising: at least one electric coil of the one or more electric coils has an open magnetic circuit configuration; The method comprises: providing a model of the one or more magnetic sensors, the model representing three-dimensional spatial distributions of at least three materials in the at least one electric coil having an open magnetic circuit configuration, the three-dimensional spatial distributions including a 3D distribution of a magnetic material, a 3D distribution of a conductive material, and a 3D distribution of a non-magnetic dielectric material; The three-dimensional spatial distribution of the at least three materials comprises: the spatial distribution of the bulk of said at least one electric coil formed by a non-magnetic dielectric material; a spatial distribution of said magnetic material defining at least one magnetic channel in said bulk associated with a magnetic core of said at least one electric coil; a spatial distribution of said electrically conductive material defining at least one electrical channel in said bulk associated with an inductor of said at least one electrical coil; at least one of the spatial distribution of magnetic material defining the magnetic channel of the at least one electric coil and the spatial distribution of conductive material defining the electric channel of the at least one electric coil has a coiled configuration forming a plurality of windings around the other of the electric channel and the magnetic channel, whereby the at least one electric channel is configured and operative as an inductor of the at least one electric coil and the at least one magnetic channel is configured and operative as a magnetic core of the inductor of the at least one electric coil; the spatial distribution of the magnetic material defining the magnetic channel has the open magnetic circuit configuration and does not surround the conductive channel with a closed loop of the magnetic material; and and applying 3D printing to print the one or more magnetic sensors, thereby obtaining the at least one electric coil having an open magnetic circuit configuration that facilitates efficient coupling of a magnetic flux path from an external magnetic field through the magnetic core and results in a high induced voltage in response to the external magnetic field.

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