Hall Effect Sensors and Magnetoresistance

Introduction

There are two related phenomena that are interesting to instrumentation designers relating
to magnet field sensing. They are similar in that they both occur when a current-carrying
conductor is subjected to a magnetic field. One is called the Hall Effect, and the other is
called Magnetoresistance. Devices utilizing both phenomena are used widely in industry.
Hall Effect sensors are used as proximity sensors or proportional sensing devices. Hall
effect sensors are a very reliable, very cheap, non-contact way of sensing magnetic
objects. Thus they are very common. Magnetoresistors are used to measure the direct
magnetic field or those effects related to the measurement of other quantities by means of
a magnetic field variation.

Hall Effect Theory

The Hall effect, discovered by Edwin Hall in 1879, consists of the generation of a
difference in electric potential between the sides of a conductor through which a current
is flowing while in a magnetic field perpendicular to the current. This was later predicted
for semiconductors and the transistor soon after its development in the late 1950’s.

Figure 1. An illustration of the electromagnetic theory behind the Hall Effect.

The figure above illustrates a conductor subjected to a magnetic field. The

magnetic field is at a right angle to the current flowing through the material. An electron
enters the right electrode and travels towards the left electrode (Note* the convention that
electrons move opposite to the current flow is being used). A force known as the Lorentz
force acts upon the electron.

Lorentz Force: F= q*v*B

Where F= Lorentz Force

q= Charge of electron (1.6 X 10-19 C)
 v= Velocity of electron (m/s)
B= Flux density of magnetic field [Wb/m2 or tesla (T)]

This force causes the electron to move towards the bottom of the conductor. This
means that all electrons traveling as shown in the slab of conductor will congregate
towards the bottom of the conductor. As a result, the lower edge of the conductor will
become negatively charged while the upper edge will become positively charged. In
other words, an EMF (electromotive force, potential, Ey) will develop across the width of
the slab that is in proportion to the amount of flux, current, and resultant charge
separation, t.
The amount of generated voltage due to the Hall effect, VH, can be calculated
using the relationship

VH = [B*KH*I]/z

Where B= Flux density of magnetic field [Wb/m2 or tesla (T)]

KH= Hall effect constant (m3/number of electrons-C)
I= Current flowing through the conductor (A)
z= Thickness of conductor (m)

The Hall effect constant, KH, is a factor of the number of electrons per unit
volume and the electron charge.
Up to this point we have been using a conductor to illustrate the behavior of the
Hall effect. Actually, semiconducting material is used to manufacture Hall effect
devices, but the explanation of how electrons are deflected at right angles to the magnetic
flux remains the same. The only difference is that with semiconducting materials you are
working with charge carriers and holes instead of electrons.
Hall effect devices can be manufactured from either p-type or n-type
semiconducting materials. The only difference between the way these two materials
behave is in the internal flow direction of electrons. When you are using n-type material,
you are dealing with a flow of electrons whereas when you are working with p-type
material, you are working with a flow of hole carriers. For all practical purposes these
are the same as positively charged particles, or positrons, that flow in the opposite
direction from the n-type electrons. Consequently, the outward results of using these two
types of material are identical; only the polarities of the biasing currents are reversed.
The Hall voltage generated VH depends upon the thickness of the material and the
electrical properties of the material (charge density and carrier mobility).
The behavior described by the Hall effect equation above is somewhat ideal. The
Hall voltage depends in practice on other factors such as the mechanical pressure and the
temperature. The dependence on the mechanical pressure (piezoresistive effect) is a
factor to be considered mainly for the manufacturer when encapsulating the device. It is
not of much concern for the user. The temperature has a double influence. On one hand
it affects the electrical resistance of the element. On the other hand, the temperature
affects the mobility of majority carriers thus also the sensitivity. So if we keep a constant
supply voltage and the device heats up, the bias current will decrease with temperature.
Thus VH goes down. The sensitivity (gain) of the device goes up because of the
increased mobility of the charge carriers. Since these two effects have opposite signs, it
is possible to compensate for them. Nevertheless it is always useful to limit the supply
current so that self-heating is negligible. It is much better to apply a constant current.
With a constant current supply you get an error of –0.12%/K. With a constant voltage
supply you get an error of –0.4%/K

Advantages

Compared with other magnetic field sensing devices, Hall elements have the advantage
of producing an output voltage that is independent of the rate of the detected field. For
inductive sensors on the contrary, when the velocity of the flux variation is small, the
output is very small. Compared with sensors based on the emitter detector optical pair,
Hall effect sensors have the advantages of being insensitive to some ambient conditions
(dust, humidity, vibration) and of having characteristics that are constant over time. In an
emitter detector optical pair, emitter light decreases with age. Since they lack mechanical
contacts when applied to movement detection, Hall effect sensors are more robust than
other sensors whose contacts wear and become an interference source due to arcing. Hall
effect sensors are based on semiconductors rather than metals because their conductivity
is smaller and their voltage is larger. Also carrier mobility in semiconductors can be
controlled by adding impurities, making it possible to obtain a repeatable Hall coefficient.
Assuming that the Hall effect depends on carrier mobility, there are no perturbations due
to surface elements, thus they are easily reproducible and highly reliable.

Disadvantages

The Hall effect sensor does have its disadvantages. The primary limitation is distance.
The Hall effect sensor does not work well with distances of greater than 10 cm unless a
magnet with a strong field is used. The temperature effect was discussed above. Another
limitation in precision applications is the presence of an offset voltage, that is, an output
voltage even in the absence of a magnetic field. This occurs even with well centered
electrodes. An offset voltage occurs when there are physical inaccuracies and material
non-uniformities. It can be as high as 100 mV for a 12V source. To solve this problem
an additional control electrode would need to be added and through it necessary current
can be injected to obtain a null output when no magnetic field is present.

Applications

The application of the Hall effect principle to the measurement of physical quantities is
very simple as long as you produce a change in the magnetic flux B.
The first application (Figure 2 on next page) is one used to measure small
displacements- As magnet 1 gets closer to the Hall effect transducer, the output will be
increasingly positive, it will become increasingly negative if magnet 2 moves closer to
the Hall effect transducer.
Figure 2. A Hall effect transducer measuring small distances.

Figure 3. Utilizing the Hall effect to measure blood flow.

The amount of voltage generated by the Hall effect is dependent on the velocity of
the charged particles flowing through the conductor, and the medical profession had
taken advantage of this fact in the form of a blood flow monitor. Figure 3 above shows
how this is done. Tiny voltage probes are placed on either side of the blood vessel, while
the poles of an electromagnet are placed perpendicular to these probes, again on either
side of the vessel. The amount of voltage generated due to the Hall effect created by the
ions in the blood supply is a direct indication of a person’s blood flow.

Figure 4. Using the Hall effect device in a wattmeter application.

Figure 4 above shows a Hall device being used a wattmeter. Current from the
load is used to create the magnetic flux, whose amount will vary proportionally with the
power being consumed in the load. The control current for operating the Hall device is
tapped from the load supply current.
Figure 5. Utilizing the Hall effect in a tachometer.

Figure 5 above shows a Hall device being used as a tachometer. A rotating gear
causes a nearby magnetic field to become redirected toward one of its teeth as it rotates
past the Hall detector. The redirection, in turn, causes the field to sweep through the
device, thereby generating a Hall voltage. The rotational accuracy of this system is ½
revolution. This very same system is easily adaptable to a flow monitoring system for
fluids in which the gear is replaced by a rotating turbine and its blades. The blades
produce the magnetic field deflections, which periodically activate a Hall device, much as
the gear teeth do in the tachometer.
Figure 6. Different arrangements for movement sensing.

Other applications are possible to sense other physical quantities. Applications

can be classified as switching and linear. Figure 6 is an example for several methods of
movement sensing. In case a.) the movement results in variation in the distance between
a permanent magnet and the detector. If the hall element interrupts the electric circuit to
act as a switch, then we have a proximity sensor. The arrangement in b.) is also a
proximity detector. The case in c.) is used to measure rotating speed. Another possibility
is to change the reluctance of the magnet so neither the magnet nor hall effect sensor have
to move. One common application is in keyboards.
The Hall effect sensor can also multiply any two quantities. For example, power
is measured by multiplying current and voltage. It is also possible to measure an electric
current intensity by placing the Hall element in the gap of a torroidal core. Here current
flow in the windings around it produces a proportional magnetic field.

Figure 7. An example of an electromechanical limit switch with a Hall effect device

being used as a proximity detector.
Materials

The material used in the manufacture of Hall-effect devices is a p-type or an n-type

semiconductor. Typical examples are indium arsenide, indium arsenide phosphide,
indium antimony, gallium arsenide, germanium, and doped silicon. Silicon has the
advantage that signal conditioning circuits can be integrated on the same chip. One type
of Hall effect integrated circuit yields a differential output superimposed on a common
mode output. Whereas a second type yields a single ended output superimposed on a
quiescent output. Hall elements are manufactured in different shapes; rectangles,
butterfly (which concentrates the flux in the central zone), and also as a symmetrical
cross, which permits the interchange of electrodes. Hall devices can be manufactured to
fit into a variety of packages. Most packages are similar to those used with transistors
and other solid state devices. In many cases it is very difficult to single out the Hall
device within a transducer system because of the integral design packaging that is often
used.

Magnetoresistor Theory

The magnetoresistance effect is closely associated with Hall-effect transducers. Looking

at Figure 1, if the length, l, of the device is made much shorter than its width, h, the Hall
voltage can be almost short-circuited. As a consequence, the charge carriers move at the
Hall angle to the x direction. The increase in path length causes an increase in resistance
of the device, and this is known as the geometrical magnetoresistance effect.
A magnetic field applied to a current-carrying conductor causes deviation of some
electrons from their path. In addition to the Hall voltage there is a current decrease,
which results in an increased electric resistance. In most conductors this
magnetoresistive effect is of a second order when compared to the Hall effect. But in
anisotropic materials, such as ferromagnetics, their resistance depends on their state of
magnetization. Then the effect of an external applied magnetic field is more pronounced
and the resistance varies from 2% to 5%. The relation between change in resistance and
the magnetic field intensity is not linear but quadratic; however, it is possible to linearize
it by using biasing methods. If we ignore this need for linearization and their thermal
dependence, magnetoresistors offer several advantages as compared with other magnetic
sensors. First their mathematical model is a zero order system. This differs from
inductive sensors in which response depends on the time derivative of magnetic flux
density. When compared with Hall effect sensors, which also have a first order model,
magnetoresistors show increased sensitivity, temperature range, and frequency passband (
from DC to several Megahertz, compared with 25 kHz for Hall effect sensors).

Applications

The proposed applications can be divided into those related to the direct measurement of
magnetic fields and those related to the measurement of other quantities by means of a
magnetic field variation. Magnetic audio recording, reading machines for credit cards,
magnetically coded price tags all use direct magnetic reading. Measurement of linear and
angular displacements, proximity switches, and position measurement, must be done by a
moving object producing a change in the magnetic field. To accomplish this, it must be
either a metallic object or an object with a metallic coating or an identifier placed in a
constant magnetic field, or the moving element to be detected must incorporate a
permanent magnet. Transducers for measuring angular velocity of ferrous gear wheels
have also been developed based on the magnetoresistive effect. Here are some of the
characteristics of a commercially available sensor which has four elements forming a
Wheatstone Bridge.

Maximal Field, A/m +/- 1000 - +/- 20000

Sensitivity, uV/A/m 2.5 – 0.06
Temperature Coefficient -0.4%/K with constant voltage supply
-0.12%/K with constant current supply
Linearity 3% full scale, 1% half scale
Sensitivity drift between 40 and 120 deg C 0.1%/K

Materials

Magneto resistors are manufactured from permalloy, which is an alloy of approximately

20% iron and 80% nickel. Also Ni-Fe-Co and Ni-Fe-Mo alloys have been tried.

Problems:
1. A piece of semi-conducting material is being subjected to a magnetic field of 2.1
Wb/m2. A supply current of 500 mA is applied to the material that has a KH of 1.5 X 10-4
m3/C and a thickness of 0.005 m. What is the magnitude of the generated Hall effect
voltage.
2. What applications can a Hall effect sensor be used in?
3. What packages do the sensors come in?

Sources: The majority of the information for this handout was taken from:

Considine, Process/Industrial Instruments and Controls Handbook, McGraw Hill, 1993,

pages 5.67

Areny, Sensors & Signal Conditioning, John Wiley & Sons, 1991, pages 67-8

Carstens, Electrical Sensors and Transducers, Prentice Hall, 1993, pages 123-130, 187-
191

Coombs, Electronic Instrument Handbook, McGraw Hill, 1995, pages 5.16-7