Hall sensor with temperature drift control
First Claim
1. A Hall sensor with thermal drift control, comprising:
- a planar cross-shaped semiconductive material having a central magnetic field responsive active area portion at the relative center of outer perimeter crossed arm portions, said central magnetic field responsive active area portion having a top surface;
a plurality of electrical contacts coupled to said outer perimeter crossed arm portions;
a gate electrode coupled to and partially covering a portion of said top surface of said central magnetic field responsive active area portion, said gate electrode having a geometric center located substantially at a geometric center of said Hall sensor; and
an electrical conductor coupling said gate electrode to one of said plurality of electrical contacts.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed are apparatus and methodology for providing approaches to remove or reduce thermal drift of the magnetic sensitivity of Hall sensor devices, to improve the stability of resulting signals of interest. Samples of a particular signal or signals of interest having improved stability make for advantageous use in conjunction with electricity meters. At the same time, associated designs and related components have greater simplicity, for reduced complexity in implementation. Among alternative embodiments, a gating structure selected of various present alternative designs may be used to partially cover, to an intentionally selected degree, an active area of a Hall sensor, so that a zero-drift supply current value may likewise be selected so as to satisfy other criteria which may be applicable to use of the Hall sensor. In other alternative embodiments, a gate structure is used which fully covers the Hall sensor active area, but a gate-control technique is practiced which is based on combined use with an external, relatively high resistance voltage-divider circuitry arrangement, again for eliminating temperature-based drift of the magnetic sensitivity of the Hall sensor arrangement, regardless of the end use to which such Hall sensor is applied.
-
Citations
9 Claims
-
1. A Hall sensor with thermal drift control, comprising:
-
a planar cross-shaped semiconductive material having a central magnetic field responsive active area portion at the relative center of outer perimeter crossed arm portions, said central magnetic field responsive active area portion having a top surface; a plurality of electrical contacts coupled to said outer perimeter crossed arm portions; a gate electrode coupled to and partially covering a portion of said top surface of said central magnetic field responsive active area portion, said gate electrode having a geometric center located substantially at a geometric center of said Hall sensor; and an electrical conductor coupling said gate electrode to one of said plurality of electrical contacts. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A self-biasing Hall sensor, comprising:
-
a planar cross-shaped semiconductive material having a central magnetic field responsive active area portion at the relative center of outer perimeter crossed arm portions; a plurality of electrical contacts coupled to said outer perimeter crossed arm portions; a gate electrode coupled to and covering said central magnetic field responsive active area portion; and a gate control external to said planar semiconductive material; wherein said gate control comprises a resistive voltage divider having an input portion thereof coupled to a pair of said plurality of electrical contacts and an output portion thereof coupled to said gate electrode such that said Hall sensor is self-biased by said plurality of electrical contacts of said Hall sensor.
-
Specification