Hybrid Hall vector magnetometer

Abstract

A modified hybrid Hall effect device is provided which is the combination of a conventional Hall effect device and a second Hall effect device having a Hall plate coupled to a ferromagnetic layer. The hybrid Hall effect device can be used to determine the independent magnetic field vector components comprising a vector magnetic field, such as for determining the x and the z components of a magnetic field, or for measuring the total magnitude of a vector magnetic field of any orientation. The modified Hall Effect device can be adapted for use as a magnetic field sensor for the detection of macroscopic objects that have associated magnetic fields, or for microscopic objects that have been tagged by microscopic magnetic particles. In one specific form, a plurality of hybrid Hall devices are electrically connected together to form an array in which a plurality of rows of hybrid Hall devices are electrically coupled to each other along a current axis, and the array is used for the detection of microscopic objects.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.