Vertical hall sensor with high electrical symmetry

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9784801-B2
Application number	US-201514611367-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 2, 2015
Priority date	Jul 21, 2011
Publication date	Oct 10, 2017
Grant date	Oct 10, 2017

Abstract

A vertical Hall sensor includes a Hall effect region and a plurality of contacts formed in or on a surface of the Hall effect region. The plurality of contacts are arranged in a sequence along a path extending between a first end and a second end of the Hall effect region. The plurality of contacts includes at least four spinning current contacts and at least two supply-only contacts. The spinning current contacts are configured to alternatingly function as supply contacts and sense contacts according to a spinning current scheme. The at least four spinning current contacts are arranged along a central portion of the path. The at least two supply-only contacts are arranged on both sides of the central portion in a distributed manner and are configured to supply electrical energy to the Hall effect region according to an extension of the spinning current scheme.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vertical Hall sensor, comprising:
a Hall effect region;
a plurality of contacts formed in or on the Hall effect region in a sequence along a path extending between a first end and a second end of the Hall effect region, wherein the contacts are consecutively numbered according to the sequence, the plurality of contacts comprising first type contacts and second type contacts, wherein M second type contacts are arranged between every two first type contacts, M being a positive integer;
wherein first type contacts having ordinal numbers within the sequence given by 1+i*4*(1+M), i=0, 1, 2 . . . are connected to a first node N1;
wherein first type contacts having ordinal numbers within the sequence given by 2+M+i*4*(1+M), i=0, 1, 2 . . . are connected to a second node N2;
wherein first type contacts having ordinal numbers within the sequence given by 3+2*M+i*4*(1+M), i=0, 1, 2 . . . are connected to a third node N3; and
wherein first type contacts having ordinal numbers within the sequence given by 4+3*M+i*4*(1+M), i=0, 1, 2 . . . are connected to a fourth node N4;
wherein the first type contacts are configured to alternatingly function as supply contacts and sense contacts according to a spinning current scheme with provision to supply electrical energy between the first nodes N1 and third nodes N3 in a first operating phase of the spinning current scheme and between the second nodes N2 and fourth nodes N4 in a second operating phase, and to sense a sense signal between the second nodes N2 and fourth nodes N4 in the first operating phase and to sense another sense signal between the first nodes N1 and third nodes N3 in the second operating phase; and
wherein the second type contacts are floating contacts.

2. The vertical Hall sensor according to claim 1 , wherein the second type contacts have a different shape than the first type contacts.

3. The vertical Hall sensor according to claim 1 , wherein the second type contacts have an extension in a direction perpendicular to the path smaller than a corresponding extension of the first type contact.

4. The vertical Hall sensor according to claim 1 , wherein the Hall effect region is elongated and wherein the first type contacts and the second type contacts are symmetrical with respect to a middle line of the Hall effect region extending between the first end and the second end.

5. The vertical Hall sensor according to claim 1 , wherein the second type contacts comprise a first group and a second group, wherein the second type contacts of the first group are connected to a first floating node and the second type contacts of the second group are connected to a second, different floating node.

6. The vertical Hall sensor according to claim 1 , further comprising at least one switching element configured to selectively connect at least one of the first type nodes with the corresponding nodes of the first node, second node, third node, and fourth node.

7. The vertical Hall sensor according to claim 1 , wherein the Hall effect region is elongated and has one of a straight shape, a curved shape, an angled shape, an L-shape, an arched-shape, and a piece-wise straight shape.

8. The vertical Hall sensor according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of contacts comprises a first outermost contact and a second outermost contact, the first outermost contact being at a first distance from the first end and the second outermost contact being at a second distance from the second end, wherein the first distance and the second distance are greater than a maximal spacing of the first type contacts.

9. The vertical Hall sensor according to claim 1 , further comprising a further Hall effect region in, or on a surface of which, is formed a further plurality of contacts similar to the plurality of contacts formed in or on the surface of the Hall effect region,
wherein the further plurality of contacts is configured to function in a complementary manner to the plurality of contacts, and wherein during each operating phase of the spinning current scheme at least one first sensor signal is tapped between at least two of the first type contacts of the plurality of contacts formed in or on the surface of the Hall effect region and at least one second sense signal is tapped between at least two first type contacts of the further plurality of contacts formed in or on the surface of the further Hall effect region, and wherein the at least one first sense signal and the at least one second sense signal are added or subtracted from each other by an output signal determiner of the vertical Hall sensor.

10. The vertical Hall sensor according to claim 1 , further comprising a further Hall effect region and a further plurality of contacts formed in or on the surface of a further Hall effect region, the plurality of contacts and the further plurality of contacts being substantially similar;
wherein at least one sense signal is tapped between a spinning current contact formed in or on the surface of the Hall effect region and a spinning current contact formed in or on the surface of the further Hall effect region, both functioning as a sense contact during a same operating phase of the spinning current scheme.

11. The vertical Hall sensor according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of contacts comprises at least two supply-only contacts as the outermost contacts of the plurality of contacts, the supply-only contacts being configured to supply electrical energy to the Hall effect region according to an extension of the spinning current scheme.

12. A vertical Hall sensor comprising:
a Hall effect region; and
a plurality of contacts formed in or on the Hall effect region in a sequence along a path extending between a first end and a second end of the Hall effect region,
wherein the Hall effect region is arc-shaped and the path extending between the first end and the second end of the Hall effect region is arc-shaped, and the Hall effect region and the plurality of contacts form a vertical Hall effect device as the vertical Hall sensor
wherein the plurality of contacts comprise at least four spinning current contacts and at least two supply-only contacts,
wherein the spinning current contacts are configured to alternatingly function as a supply contact and a sensor contact according to a spinning current operation,
wherein the at least four spinning current contacts are arranged along a central portion of the path,
wherein the at least two supply-only contacts are arranged on both sides of the central portion in a distributed manner and are configured to supply electrical energy to the Hall effect region,
wherein two of the at least four spinning current contacts and one of the at least two supply-only contacts are configured to supply electrical energy to the Hall effect region and two other spinning current contacts are configured to function as sense contacts during a first operating phase of the spinning current operation, and
wherein the two spinning current contact functioning as sense contacts during the first operating phase and the other of the at least two supply-only contacts are configured to supply electrical energy to the Hall effect region during a second operation phase of the spinning current operation, and the two spinning current contacts having functioned as supply contacts during the first operating phase are configured to function as sense contacts during a second operating phase of the spinning current operation.

13. The vertical Hall sensor according to claim 12 , wherein the at least four spinning current contacts have an equidistant spacing along the path.

Assignees

• Infineon Technologies Ag

Inventors

• Ausserlechner Udo

Classifications

• G01R33/075

  Hall devices configured for spinning current measurements · CPC title

• H01L43/06

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G01R33/077 Primary

  Vertical Hall-effect devices · CPC title

• H01L43/065

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H10N52/00

  Hall-effect devices (integrated devices or assemblies of multiple devices H10N59/00) · CPC title