Vertical hall device with electrical 180 degree symmetry

A vertical Hall device indicative of a magnetic field parallel to the surface of a substrate, the vertical Hall device comprising:

• at least one pair of Hall effect regions, the at least one pair of Hall effect regions comprising:
• a first Hall effect region and a second Hall effect region;
• a first group of contacts associated with the first Hall effect region;
• a second group of contacts associated with the second Hall effect region;
• wherein the vertical Hall device is configured to utilize
• during a first spinning phase a first subset of contacts from the first group of contacts as supply contacts for the first Hall effect region and a second subset of contacts from the second group of contacts as supply contacts for the second Hall effect region, the number of contacts in the first subset of contacts being equal to the number of contacts in the second subset of contacts, wherein at least one of the contacts of the first subset and at least one of the contacts of the second subset are coupled to provide a same upper potential as a supply potential during the first spinning phase, and wherein at least one other of the contacts of the first subset and at least one other of the contacts of the second subset are coupled to provide a same lower potential as a further supply potential during the first spinning phase, wherein trajectories of current streamlines generated by the first subset of contacts in the first Hall effect region are opposite-identical to trajectories of current streamlines generated by the second subset of contacts in the second Hall effect region;
• and
• during a second spinning phase a third subset of contacts from the first group of contacts as supply contacts for the first Hall effect region, the third subset including contacts of the first group which are not contained in the first subset, and a fourth subset of contacts from the second group of contacts as supply contacts for the second Hall effect region, the contacts of the fourth subset of contacts including contacts of the second group of contacts which are not contained in the second subset, wherein trajectories of the current streamlines generated by the third subset of contacts in the first Hall effect region are opposite-identical to trajectories of the current streamlines generated by the fourth subset of contacts in the second Hall effect region.

A vertical Hall device, the vertical Hall device comprising:

• a first group of contacts associated with a first Hall effect region;
• a second group of contacts associated with a second Hall effect region;
• wherein
• during a first spinning phase, a first subset of the first group of contacts is used to generate first electrical currents and a second subset of the second group of contacts is used to generate second electrical currents, such that each current streamline generated by the first subset has a counterpart with opposite direction generated by the second subset, wherein at least one of the contacts of the first subset and at least one of the contacts of the second subset are coupled to provide a same upper potential as a supply potential during the first spinning phase, and wherein at least one other of the contacts of the first subset and at least one other of the contacts of the second subset are coupled to provide a same lower potential as a further supply potential during the first spinning phase;
• and
• during a second spinning phase, a third subset of the first group of contacts is used to generate third electrical currents and a fourth subset of the second group of contacts is used to generate fourth electrical currents, such that each current streamline generated by the third subset has a counterpart with opposite direction generated by the fourth subset, the third subset being complementary to the first subset and the fourth subset being complementary to the second subset.

A vertical Hall device comprising:

• a first Hall effect region;
• a second Hall effect region;
• first, second, third and fourth terminals;
• a first sequence of n contacts associated with the first Hall effect region, the first sequence of contacts having contacts in an order from 1 to n, wherein n is an integer number greater or equal to 4;
• a second sequence of n contacts associated with the second Hall effect region, the second sequence having an order of contacts from 1 to n;
• wherein for integer m between 1 and n−2,
• the m-th contact of the first sequence of contacts is connected to the (m+2)th contact of the corresponding contact in the second sequence, and
• the (m+2)th contact of the first sequence is connected to the m-th contact of the second sequence;
• wherein the first and the n-th contact of the first and second sequence respectively form an outmost contact, so that the first sequence comprises a first and second outmost contact, and the second sequence comprises a third and fourth outmost contact, and
• wherein each of the first, second, third and fourth terminals is connected to exactly only one of the outmost contacts, and wherein each of the first, second, third and fourth terminals is connected to a different one of the outmost contacts.

A vertical Hall sensor, the vertical Hall sensor comprising:

• a first sequence of contacts associated with a first Hall effect region;
• a second sequence of contacts associated with a second Hall effect region;
• wherein the vertical Hall sensor is operable
• during a first spinning phase to induce one or more electrical currents in the first Hall effect region and the second Hall effect region, wherein at least one of the contacts of the first sequence and at least one of the contacts of the second sequence are coupled to provide a same upper potential as a supply potential during the first spinning phase, and wherein at least one other of the contacts of the first sequence and at least one other of the contacts of the second sequence are coupled to provide a same lower potential as a further supply potential during the first spinning phase, wherein for each current streamline in the first Hall effect region exists a corresponding current streamline in the second Hall effect region with reverse flow direction;
• during a second spinning phase to induce one or more electrical currents in the first Hall effect region and the second Hall effect region, wherein for each current streamline in the first Hall effect region exists a corresponding current streamline in the second Hall effect region with reverse flow direction;
• wherein contacts of the first sequences are swapped when generating the electrical currents in the first spinning phase and the second spinning phase and contacts of the second sequence are swapped when generating the electrical currents in the first spinning phase and the second spinning phase.

A sensing method for sensing a magnetic field parallel to a surface of a substrate, the method comprising:

• applying an electrical supply to a pair of Hall effect regions comprising a first Hall effect region and a second Hall effect region formed in the substrate, wherein a first group of contacts is arranged in or at a surface of the first Hall effect region and a second group of contacts is arranged in or at a surface of the second Hall effect region, and wherein applying the electrical supply occurs via a first terminal and a second terminal, the first and second terminals being connected to a same number of outmost contacts of the first group of contacts or the second group of contacts, wherein at least one of the contacts of the first group and at least one of the contacts of the second group are coupled to provide a same upper potential as a supply potential during a first spinning phase, and wherein at least one other of the contacts of the first group and at least one other of the contacts of the second group are coupled to provide a same lower potential as further supply potential during the first spinning phase;
• sensing a sense signal between a third terminal and a fourth terminal, the third terminal being connected to contacts of the first group other than the outmost contacts and the fourth terminal being connected to contacts of the second group other than the outmost contacts, each of the third terminal and the fourth terminal being connected to the same number of outmost contacts of the first group or the second group of contacts as the first terminal and the second terminal;
• applying the electrical supply to the pair of Hall effect regions via the third terminal and the fourth terminal;
• sensing a further sense signal between the first terminal and the second terminal;
• and
• determining an output signal indicative of the magnetic field on the basis of the sense signal and the further sense signal.