Abstract: A thin film magnetic fluxgate compass having a supporting substrate on which a layer of high permeability material, and at least two layers of nonmagnetic conducting materials are deposited; the high permeability material is fabricated to form a magnetic core or cores; a portion of the non-magnetic conducting layers is fabricated to form an excitation coil, magnetically coupled to the core or cores, which is to be connected to a pulse generator; the remainder of the non-magnetic conducting layers is fabricated into at least two sensing coils, or two pairs of sensing coils wound around the core or cores in opposite pairs, which are used to generate output signals. A method for the fabrication of the thin film compass is disclosed. The compass can be used for the determination of the direction of the geomagnetic field, and, because of its miniature size, for instrumentation that requires a very small magnetic field sensor.