Hall effect sensor

A wheel containing two magnets passing by a Hall

effect sensor
The magnetic piston (1) in this pneumatic cylinder will
cause the Hall effect sensors (2 and 3) mounted on its
outer wall to activate when it is fully retracted or
extended.

Engine fan with Hall effect sensor

Commonly used circuit symbol

A Hall effect sensor is a transducer that

varies its output voltage in response to a
magnetic field. Hall effect sensors are
used for proximity switching, positioning,
speed detection, and current sensing
applications.[1]

In a Hall effect sensor, a thin strip of metal

has a current applied along it. In the
presence of a magnetic field, the electrons
in the metal strip are deflected toward one
edge, producing a voltage gradient across
the short side of the strip (perpendicular to
the feed current). Hall effect sensors have
an advantage over inductive sensors in
that, while inductive sensors respond to a
changing magnetic field which induces
current in a coil of wire and produces
voltage at its output, Hall effect sensors
can detect static (non-changing) magnetic
fields.

In its simplest form, the sensor operates

as an analog transducer, directly returning
a voltage. With a known magnetic field, its
distance from the Hall plate can be
determined. Using groups of sensors, the
relative position of the magnet can be
deduced.

Frequently, a Hall sensor is combined with

threshold detection so that it acts as and
is called a switch. Commonly seen in
industrial applications such as the
pictured pneumatic cylinder, they are also
used in consumer equipment; for example
some computer printers use them to
detect missing paper and open covers.
They can also be used in computer
keyboards, an application that requires
ultra-high reliability.
Hall sensors are commonly used to time
the speed of wheels and shafts, such as
for internal combustion engine ignition
timing, tachometers and anti-lock braking
systems. They are used in brushless DC
electric motors to detect the position of
the permanent magnet. In the pictured
wheel with two equally spaced magnets,
the voltage from the sensor will peak twice
for each revolution. This arrangement is
commonly used to regulate the speed of
disk drives.

Hall probe
A Hall probe contains an indium
compound semiconductor crystal such as
indium antimonide, mounted on an
aluminum backing plate, and encapsulated
in the probe head. The plane of the crystal
is perpendicular to the probe handle.
Connecting leads from the crystal are
brought down through the handle to the
circuit box.

When the Hall probe is held so that the

magnetic field lines are passing at right
angles through the sensor of the probe,
the meter gives a reading of the value of
magnetic flux density (B). A current is
passed through the crystal which, when
placed in a magnetic field has a "Hall
effect" voltage developed across it. The
Hall effect is seen when a conductor is
passed through a uniform magnetic field.
The natural electron drift of the charge
carriers causes the magnetic field to apply
a Lorentz force (the force exerted on a
charged particle in an electromagnetic
field) to these charge carriers. The result is
what is seen as a charge separation, with
a buildup of either positive or negative
charges on the bottom or on the top of the
plate. The crystal measures 5 mm square.
The probe handle, being made of a non-
ferrous material, has no disturbing effect
on the field.
A Hall probe should be calibrated against
a known value of magnetic field strength.
For a solenoid the Hall probe is placed in
the center.

Working principle
When a beam of charged particles passes
through a magnetic field, forces act on the
particles and the beam is deflected from a
straight path. The flow of electrons
through a conductor form a beam of
charged carriers. When a conductor is
placed in a magnetic field perpendicular to
the direction of the electrons, they will be
deflected from a straight path. As a
consequence, one plane of the conductor
will become negatively charged and the
opposite side will become positively
charged. The voltage between these
planes is called the Hall voltage.[2]

When the force on the charged particles

from the electric field balances the force
produced by magnetic field, the separation
of them will stop. If the current is not
changing, then the Hall voltage is a
measure of the magnetic flux density.
Basically, there are two kinds of Hall effect
sensors. One is linear which means the
output of voltage linearly depends on
magnetic flux density; the other is called
threshold which means there will be a
sharp decrease of output voltage at each
magnetic flux density.

Materials
The key factor determining sensitivity of
Hall effect sensors is high electron
mobility. As a result, the following
materials are especially suitable for Hall
effect sensors:

gallium arsenide (GaAs)

indium arsenide (InAs)
indium phosphide (InP)
indium antimonide (InSb)
 graphene [3]

Signal processing and

interface
Hall effect sensors are linear transducers.
As a result, such sensors require a linear
circuit for processing of the sensor's
output signal. Such a linear circuit:

provides a constant driving current to

the sensors
amplifies the output signal

In some cases the linear circuit may

cancel the offset voltage of Hall effect
sensors. Moreover, AC modulation of the
driving current may also reduce the
influence of this offset voltage.

Hall effect sensors with linear transducers

are commonly integrated with digital
electronics.[4] This enables advanced
corrections to the sensor's characteristics
(e.g. temperature coefficient corrections)
and digital interfacing to microprocessor
systems. In some solutions of IC Hall
effect sensors a DSP is used, which
provides for more choices among
processing techniques.[1]:167

The Hall effect sensor interfaces may

include input diagnostics, fault protection
for transient conditions, and short/open
circuit detection. It may also provide and
monitor the current to the Hall effect
sensor itself. There are precision IC
products available to handle these
features.

Advantages
A Hall effect sensor may operate as an
electronic switch.

Such a switch costs less than a

mechanical switch and is much more
reliable.
It can be operated up to 100 kHz.
 It does not suffer from contact bounce
because a solid state switch with
hysteresis is used rather than a
mechanical contact.
It will not be affected by environmental
contaminants since the sensor is in a
sealed package. Therefore, it can be
used under severe conditions.

In the case of linear sensor (for the

magnetic field strength measurements), a
Hall effect sensor:

can measure a wide range of magnetic

fields
 is available that can measure either
North or South pole magnetic fields
can be flat

Disadvantages
Hall effect sensors provide much lower
measuring accuracy than fluxgate
magnetometers or magnetoresistance-
based sensors. Moreover, Hall effect
sensors drift significantly, requiring
compensation.

Applications
Position sensing
Sensing the presence of magnetic objects
(connected with the position sensing) is
the most common industrial application of
Hall effect sensors, especially those
operating in the switch mode (on/off
mode). The Hall effect sensors are also
used in the brushless DC motor to sense
the position of the rotor and to switch the
transistors in the right sequence.

Smartphones use hall sensors to

determine if the Flip Cover accessory is
closed.[5]

Direct current (DC)

transformers
Hall effect sensors may be utilized for
contactless measurements of DC current
in current transformers. In such a case the
Hall effect sensor is mounted in the gap in
magnetic core around the current
conductor.[6] As a result, the DC magnetic
flux can be measured, and the DC current
in the conductor can be calculated.

Automotive fuel level indicator

The Hall sensor is used in some

automotive fuel level indicators. The main
principle of operation of such indicator is
position sensing of a floating element.[7]
This can either be done by using a vertical
float magnet or a rotating lever sensor.

In a vertical float system a permanent

magnet is mounted on the surface of a
floating object. The current carrying
conductor is fixed on the top of the tank
lining up with the magnet. When the
level of fuel rises, an increasing
magnetic field is applied on the current
resulting in higher Hall voltage. As the
fuel level decreases, the Hall voltage will
also decrease. The fuel level is indicated
and displayed by proper signal condition
of Hall voltage.
 In a rotating lever sensor a diametrically
magnetized ring magnet rotates about a
linear hall sensor. The sensor only
measures the perpendicular (vertical)
component of the field. The strength of
the field measured correlates directly to
the angle of the lever and thus the level
of the fuel tank.

Keyboard switch

Developed by Everett A. Vorthmann and

Joeseph T. Maupin for Micro Switch (a
division of Honeywell) in 1969, the switch
was known to still be in production until as
late as 1990.The key-switches have been
tested to have a lifetime of over 30 billion
keypresses, and also has dual open-
collector outputs for reliability. The
Honeywell Hall effect switch is most
famously used in the Space-cadet
keyboard, a keyboard used on LISP
machines.

References
1. Ramsden, Edward (2006). Hall-effect
sensors: theory and applications (2,
illustrated ed.). Elsevier. ISBN 0-7506-7934-
4.
2. Popović, R. S. (2004). Hall effect devices
(2, illustrated ed.). CRC Press. ISBN 0-7503-
0855-9.
3. Petruk, Oleg; Szewczyk, Roman; Ciuk,
Tymoteusz; et al. (2014). "Sensitivity and
Offset Voltage Testing in the Hall-Effect
Sensors Made of Graphene" . Advances in
Intelligent Systems and Computing.
Advances in Intelligent Systems and
Computing. Springer. 267: 631.
doi:10.1007/978-3-319-05353-0_60 .
ISBN 978-3-319-05352-3.
4. "Hall Effect Sensor Voltage Regulation
and Power Management" .
phareselectronics.com. Retrieved 26 May
2015.
5. "ZenFone 5 (A500CG)" . asus.com.
Retrieved 2 September 2017.
6. Petruk, O.; Szewczyk, R.; Salach, J.;
Nowicki, M. (2014). "Digitally Controlled
Current Transformer with Hall Sensor" .
Advances in Intelligent Systems and
Computing. Advances in Intelligent Systems
and Computing. Springer. 267: 641.
doi:10.1007/978-3-319-05353-0_61 .
ISBN 978-3-319-05352-3.
7. "Liquid Level Sensing: Measuring Liquid
Levels Using Hall Effect Sensors" (PDF).
infineon.com. 12 February 2009. Retrieved
2 September 2017.

Further reading
Baumgartner, A.; Ihn, T.; Ensslin, K.;
Papp, G.; Peeters, F.; Maranowski, K.;
 Gossard, A. C. (2006). "Classical Hall
effect in scanning gate experiments".
Phys. Rev. B. 74 (16): 165426.
Bibcode:2006PhRvB..74p5426B .
doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.74.165426 .

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