Hybrid hall effect device and method of operation
First Claim
1. An improved Hall Effect device comprising:
- a conductive film layer having a top surface and capable of carrying an electrical current;
a ferromagnetic layer having a configurable magnetization orientation, and covering a first portion of the top surface, and not a second portion, such that a fringe magnetic field substantially normal to such surface can be generated by an edge portion of the ferromagnetic layer; and
wherein an electrical signal can be generated in response to the fringe magnetic field acting on the electrical current in the conductive film layer.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A modified Hall Effect device can be used as a memory element for the nonvolatile storage of digital information. The novel device includes a ferromagnetic layer that covers a portion of a Hall plate and is electrically isolated from the Hall plate. The ferromagnetic layer on the Hall plate can be changed by an externally applied field, and permits the device to have two stable magnetization states (positive and negative) along an anisotropy axis, which can correspond to two different data values (0 or 1) when the device is used as a memory element. In another embodiment of the invention, the Hall plate is integrated with a conduction channel of a FET, and the ferromagnetic layer is incorporated in proximity to, or as part of the gate over the conducting channel. This device can be described as a "ferromagnetic gated FET." The resulting device also can be fabricated to be magnetically anisotropic so as to permit the device to have two stable magnetization states (positive and negative along the anisotropy axis) which again can correspond to two different data values (0 or 1) when the device is used as a memory element. Both of the above devices can be used as magnetic field sensors, (e.g. as a read head) or in memory arrays where they can operate as non-volatile memory. The modified Hall Plate and ferromagnetic gated FET devices can also be used a logic gate that stores the result of a boolean function. A magnetic field generated by the combined current of one or more input data signals is coupled to the device. Depending on the particular function to be implemented, the magnetization of the ferromagnetic layer can be configured to change or retain its orientation based on particular predefined combinations of input data signals.
184 Citations
75 Claims
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1. An improved Hall Effect device comprising:
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a conductive film layer having a top surface and capable of carrying an electrical current; a ferromagnetic layer having a configurable magnetization orientation, and covering a first portion of the top surface, and not a second portion, such that a fringe magnetic field substantially normal to such surface can be generated by an edge portion of the ferromagnetic layer; and wherein an electrical signal can be generated in response to the fringe magnetic field acting on the electrical current in the conductive film layer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A memory device comprising:
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a conductive film layer having a top surface; a ferromagnetic layer having at least two configurable and stable magnetization orientation states corresponding to two different values of a data item stored in said device, and covering a portion of the top surface such that a fringe magnetic field having two states and configured substantially normal to the top surface can be generated by an edge portion of the ferromagnetic layer; and wherein two different electrical signals, each corresponding to a different one of the two different data values, can be generated in response to the two fringe magnetization field states acting on an electrical current flowing in the conductive film layer. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A logic device for implementing a logic function relating a combination of one or more input signals to an output signal comprising:
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a conductive film layer having a top surface; a ferromagnetic layer having at least two stable magnetization orientation states and covering a portion of the top surface such that a fringe magnetic field can be generated substantially normal to the top surface by an edge portion of the ferromagnetic layer; and a write line for inductively coupling the ferromagnetic layer with a magnetic field generated by said input data signals on the wire, the input data signals having one of a first and a second current value, and an electrical output signal generated in response to the fringe magnetic field acting on an electrical current flowing in the conductive film layer, and wherein the electrical output signal relates to said input signals and to said logic function. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method of generating an electrical signal, said signal being related to a voltage potential developed along a first axis joining a first point coupled to a first edge of a conductive layer and a second point coupled to a second edge of the conductive layer, said method comprising the steps of:
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generating an electrical current that flows along a second axis of a conductive film layer, the second axis being substantially perpendicular to the first axis; generating a fringe magnetic field along an edge of a ferromagnetic layer located substantially along said first axis, such that the fringe field is coupled substantially normal to the second axis; and wherein the electrical signal is generated in response to the fringe magnetic field acting on the electrical current. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. An electronic device comprising:
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a field effect transistor (FET), including a source region, a drain region, a gate and a channel; a ferromagnetic layer having a configurable magnetization orientation, and positioned relative to the gate and channel such that a fringe magnetic field directed substantially normal to the channel can be generated by an edge portion of the ferromagnetic layer; and wherein an electrical signal related to the magnetization orientation of the ferromagnetic layer can be generated in response to the fringe magnetic field acting on an electrical current flowing between the source and drain of the FET. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A memory device comprising:
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a field effect transistor (FET), including a source, a drain, a gate and a channel; a ferromagnetic layer having at least two configurable and stable magnetization orientation states corresponding to two different values of a data item stored in said device, and positioned relative to the gate and channel such that a fringe magnetic field directed substantially normal to the channel can be generated by an edge portion of the ferromagnetic layer; and wherein two different output electrical signals corresponding to the two different data values can be generated in response to the fringe magnetization field acting on an electrical current flowing in the channel. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57)
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58. A logic device for implementing a logic function relating a combination of one or more input signals to an output signal comprising:
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a field effect transistor (FET), including a source, a drain, a gate and a channel; a ferromagnetic layer having at least two configurable and stable magnetization orientation states corresponding to two different results of said logic function and positioned relative to the gate and channel such that a fringe magnetic field directed substantially normal to the channel can be generated by an edge portion of the ferromagnetic layer; and a wire for inductively coupling the ferromagnetic layer with a magnetic field generated by said input data signals on the wire, the input data signals having at least a first or second current value, and wherein two different output electrical signals corresponding to the two different results can be generated in response to the fringe magnetization field acting on an electrical current flowing in the channel. - View Dependent Claims (59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69)
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70. A method of generating an electrical signal, said signal being related to a voltage potential developed along a first axis joining a first point coupled to a first edge of a FET channel and a second point coupled to a second edge of the FET channel, said method comprising the steps of:
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generating an electrical current that flows from a source of said FET through said channel to a drain of said FET along a second axis that is substantially perpendicular to the first axis; generating a fringe magnetic field along an edge of a ferromagnetic layer positioned relative to the gate and channel such that the fringe magnetic field is directed substantially normal to the channel; and wherein the electrical signal is generated in response to the fringe magnetic field acting on the electrical current. - View Dependent Claims (71, 72, 73, 74, 75)
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Specification