Magnetic Sensors Based on Hall Effect

The Hall effect was discovered by Edwin Hall in 1879. Hall found that when a magnet was placed with its field flowing perpendicular to the face of a thin rectangle of gold through which current was flowing, a difference in potential appeared at the opposite edges. This chapter provides a detailed description of horizontal and vertical Hall plates. It discusses the current-mode technique and its comparison with the voltage-mode technique. The chapter also provides the state-of-the-art in Hall magnetic sensors. It presents an overview of the characteristics of the Hall magnetic sensors in CMOS technology. The chapter further presents a few examples of Hall magnetic sensors such as biosensors, contactless current sensors, angular position sensor, linear position sensor, contactless joystick sensor, electronic compass, speed and timing sensors, and specific sensors.