Projects

The main objective of this project is the further development of the 3-Contact Vertical Hall Sensor (3C-VHS) and the realization of resulting systems. Up to now, the combination of four 3C-VHS elements represents the most symmetric implementation of a vertical hall sensor. Further scientific challenges include the investigation of the dependency on geometry of a single 3C-VHS, the characterization of the current saturation effects at the contacts, the conclusive modeling of the single components including their dynamic response, the integration of different arrangements of the 3C-VHS elements enabling the measurement of both in-plane components of the magnetic field, and the investigation and expansion of the limits of the sensors in the frequency range. However, it must be noted that the 3C-VHS have to be compatible with the established technology of MICRONAS. Thereby, an uncomplicated integration of planar and vertical hall sensors is feasible, as envisaged by Micronas. Therefore, the design of the 3C-VHS has to be optimized with respect to the offset, sensitivity, bandwidth, dynamic response, power consumption, and the chip area with regard to the integration into a 3D magnetic field sensor system .