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High-performance hall sensors based on III-V heterostructures

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4.50 Sensors and Actuators A, 41-42 (1994) 450-454

High-performance Hall sensors based on III-V heterostructures

V. Mosser, S. Aboulhouda and J. Dems

SC-~ Monbwge Recherche, BP 620-05, F-92542 Monhtnge Cedex (France)

S. Gmtreras, Ph Lorenzmi, F. Kobbl and J.L Robert

GE S, URA-CNRS 357, Vnrvet~~ de Mon@elher II, F-34095 Monpellw Cedtx 05 (France)

Abstract

Hall sensors mth a high senahvlty, a low thermal dnft and a low offset voltage based on AMXAs/InGrAs/GaAs
heterostructures have been developed The physnzal phenomena responsible for the thermal dnft of the Hall
senntwlty are rmewed and mvestlgated usmg a set of test devices Hnth well-controlled structure parameters
These results have been used to optmuze the design of sensors v&h a Hall factor m the 1000 V/AfT range m
order to reduce the temperature sensltmty of the channel electron denstty down to a few 100 ppmiT The
dependence of the Hall factor and of Its thermal drift on the bias current has been mvestlgated We show that
the bias-current level can be tuned to achieve a very low thermal dnft together mth a high absolute sennhwty
m the range 0 4-O 5 V/T

1. Introdllction technology with respect to other III-V heterostructure

systems hes m ltsmatunty Indeed, It has been mtensrvely
developed for the reabzation of field-effect microwave
Magnetic mrcrosensors usmg the transverse Hall effect
transistors Hrlth improved performance and IS already
m a sermconductor material represent an attractrve
at an mdustrlal stage It 1s also supenor to the older
solutron for a number of apphcatlons, because of their
AlGaAs/GaAs technology because of the more effectlve
high senslt&y However, their use for metrologlcal
confinement of the electrons m the channel, due to
apphcations 1s hampered by the thermal dnft of the
the larger AlGaAs/InGaAs conduction-band offset
magnetic sensltlvlty This reqmres the Implementation
Test devices Hrlthwell-controlled structure parameters
of some external or Integrated means to compensate
were deslgned m order to mvestlgate the physical
the output slgnal for temperature and of&et effects,
phenomena responsible for the thermal dnft of the
which increases the fabncatlon and cahbratlon costs
channel electron density [4] These results were used
III-V heterostructures Hnth a active layer consNmg
to optlmlze the design of sensors with a Hall factor
of a 2D electron gas (ZDEG) m a quantum well appear
m the 1000 V/AR range 111order to reduce the tem-
to be a very pronusmg solution for deslgmng Hall
perature sensltnnty of the channel electron density down
devices with a high sensltlvlty, a reduced temperature
to a few 100 ppmPC [5] We then mvestlgated the
sensltlvlty and a low offset voltage Hall sensors usmg
dependence of the Hall factor and of Its thermal dnft
A&Gal _&/GaAs [l] or @AlI _Js/I$Ga, _,As/InP [2]
on the bias current, and we show that the bias-current
heterostructures have been proposed m the literature
level can be tuned to achieve a very low thermal dnft
The Hall coe5iaent of the latter devux had a thermal
together mth a high absolute sensltlvlty m the range
dnft amountmg to 350 ppm/‘C, which is better than
04-05 vrr
for any avadable SI or GaAs Hall sensors Another
type of III-V heterostructure Hall sensor wth a low
thermal drift has recently been proposed, whzh uses
as the actwe layer a 3D low-doped In,.Ga,_,.As layer 2. Test devices
embedded between two confinmg In& _& layers on
an InP substrate [3] Several senes of AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs hetero-
We focused on the use of pseudomorphx Al,Ga, _&/ structures were fahncated by molecular beam epltaxy
IqGa,_+/GaAs heterostructures for the fabncatlon (MBE) on a semi-msulatmg GaAs substrate Hall bars
of Hall sensors ~rlth a high senslhvlty, a low thermal with various lengths L, wdths W and aspect ratios Ll
dnft and a low offset voltage The mam Interest of this W were then patterned usmg a mesa techmque All

0924-4247/94/.$0700 Q 1994Ekvxr Sequota Au rlgbts reserved

SSDI 0924-4247(93)00541-B
 451

the devuzes have the same general structure (Fig l),
the only varymg parameters being the spacer and cap-
layer thicknesses and the integrated sheet concentration
of the dopmg atoms The Al and In contents are equal
to 0 3 and 0 15, respectwely, and the quantum-well
thickness amounts to 130 A A band diagram 1s shown
m Fig 2
Dependmg on the fabncatlon parameters, the channel
electron density n, as measured by the Hall effect, is
between 5 X 101’ and 15 X 10” cmm2 The good control
of the fabncatlon parameters IS clear m Fig 3, which
shows n,, as a function of the mtegrated dopm density
for gwen spacer (40 A) and cap-layer (600 1 ) thlck-
nesses A model was developed 111order to calculate
and predict the electron density, and thus the Hall
factor, of a gven device as a function of the fabncatton
parameters of the heterostructure This model, which
does not involve any fittmg parameters, performs the
self-consistent resolution of the Schriidmger equation,
Poisson equation and Ferm-Duac statlstlcs m the
Hartree approxunation, using the Fermi-level pmmng
at the surface as the boundary condition Modelhng
results are also shown 111Fig 3
3. Electrical characteristics

In the mvestlgated devices the Hall factor ranges

Cap from 400 to 1200 V/AR The excellent hneanty of the
layer Hall voltage as a function of the apphed magnebc
mdution was already shown m ref. 5 Also mvestlgated
Spacer
was the of&et voltage that appears between the Hall
Channel
electrodes 111the absence of any apphed magnetic
mductlon, due to the imperfections of the device The
Buffer
magnitude of this effect can be expressed as an o&t
resistance, defined as the offset voltage dlvlded by the
S I GaAs substrate
bias current, or equivalently by the resultmg offset
m the determmatlon of the magnetic mductlon
Rg 1 Schematic representatton of the AlGaAsiInGaAs/GaAs Bo~~t=R,,,&KH Although this offset may anse from
2D heterostructures as grown by MBE mhomogeneltles m both doping level or thuzknesses, it
can also be represented by an eqmvalent nusahgnment
AL = Q&tit W All these quantities are shown m Table
1 for two representative test devices with dtierent
fabrication parameters Very low values (B,&, < 04
mT) are achieved, thanks to the very high electron
mob@ m such devices, and foremost to the excellent
homogeneity of MBE-grown devices If necessary, this
offset could be further reduced by at least one order
. of magnitude using a swltchmg electrode technique [6]

Lap L&h Lbuff

Rg 2 Band diagram of the AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs 2D hetero- 4. Thermal behaviour of the 2D electron density
structures used to make the Hall devxes
Under constant-current biasing comhtions, which are
,ie 16 .“““““.“““‘I.“’
generally used m order to achieve good metrologcal
/
properties, a factor of ment of a Hall sensor 1s the
5 14

TABLE 1 Example of row d c o&t censtancc, correspondmg

o&et mduction and eqmvalent mlsahgnment measured on some
test devuxs with large dunenslons No swtchmg electrode tech-
mque has been appbed

Electron density n*, (cm-‘) 14x10’2 7 x 10”

Hall bar wrdtb W (w) 150 150
Aspect ratlo L/W 10 10
Kn Wlvr) 445 900
Integrateddopmg dens@ (LO” cm ‘)
Ro(flct(a) 0 18 03
Fig 3 Hall electron dens@ vs mtegrated sheet doPmg density Bom~( (mT) 04 033
for several dcvlces mth a 600 8, thick cap layer Dots, expenmental M (W) 0045 004
pomts, dashed curve, slmulatlon

AIGsASAIlGaAS/GaAs
/ free holes m the substrate Indeed, the concentration
l/n8 dns/dT = 270 ppm/=‘C
-100 -50 0 50 loo
Temperature (“C)
Fu 4 Equhbnum electron denuty no vs temperatare for an
AlGaAs/hGaAs/GaAs Hall dewe wtb a Hall factor density
I&-400 v/Ail-
Hall factor, defmed as K,=r,/(en,) [6] In III-V 2D
heterostructures, the Hall scattenng factor r, remams
equal to umty, because the 2DEG 1s degenerate due
to the low 2D dennty of states m the quantum well
Thus, the thermal sensltlvlty of the Hall factor IS that
of the electron density m the actnre layer The condltlons
reqmred m order to achieve an electron density as
constant as possible have been detaded m refs 4 and
5 The locahzed states introduced by the doping atoms
(so-called DX centres) must be located high enough
m energy m order to avoid any thermally dependent
electron trappmg Thus, one has to design a sharp
potential curvature m the large band-gap layer (Fig
2), which can best be achieved using a delta dopmg
profile and a spacer wrth not too large a tlnckness
These condltlons, together with an AI,Ga,_&/I$.
Ga,& conduction-band offset as large as possible,
also prevent the occurrence of the parasltlc parallel
conduchon m the large band-gap AlGaAs layer, whch
may be observed m AlGaAs/GaAs field-effect transis-
tors
However, the mfluence of the Fernu-level pmmng
on the mid-gap states at the surface leads to a thermal
dnft of the channel electron density that cannot be
completely suppressed The resultmg thermal sensltlWy
of tbe channel electron density measured at low bias
current, &,,= (l/n~)(dn,/dZ”), mamly depends on both
II~ and the thickness of the confinmg layer The tem-
perature dependence of no 1s shown m Fig 4 for a
device ~th KH= 400 VIA/r and a 600 A thick wniimng
layer In devices designed to have a Hall factor equal
to 1000 V/m but Hnth various dopmg concentrations
and wnfinmg layer thicknesses, S, decrease from about
400 down to 100 ppm.PC if the thickness of the ConfinIng
layer 1s mcreases from 600 to 2500 A
5. Backgatlug effects
In a biased device the channel potenttal drops wn-
tmuously between the source and dram contacts How-
ever, m steady-state operation the potentml remams
flat withm the substrate Thus, the voltage drop across
the undoped buffer layer, 1e , the perpendicular electnc
field m tbe buffer layer, depends on the location m
the channel This excess electnc field cannot be created
by the depletion of free electrons or accumulation of
of free carnem m the GaAs substrate 1s extremely low,
m the W-10’ cmv3 range, because of the deep traps
that are Introduced on purpose Hnth a concentration
m the 1016cmm3 range to render the substrate seml-
msulatmg [7] The Fernu level 1s pinned on the energy
levels of these traps, located at mtd-gap Nevertheless,
these traps m the part of the substrate just below the
undoped buffer layer are able to exchange electrons
~th the channel, with a tnne constant m the m&second
range, m order to restore the local electnc eqmhbnum
after a dram-source current has been swltched on [8]
This effect gwes nse to a channel-substrate capacitance
C,, which m first approxnnabon ISmversely proportional
to the thickness of the buffer layer C, = z/L, Because
of the analogy with the gate of a field-effect transistor,
this effect IS referred to as the backgatmg effect As
a consequence, the wmbmabon of the channel-
substrate capacitance and the channel resistance acts
hke a lumped RC network, which modulates the electron
density along the channel Accordmg to this model, If
the device 1sbiased mtb a current I, the channel electron
density vanes wth the distance y from the source
acwrdmg to
(1)
Here n, denotes the eqmhbrmm channel electron
dens@ m the absence of any dram-source blasmg For
Hall contacts located m the middle of the Hall bar,
the electron density as measured by the Hall voltage
IS nH =n,&,), with y,= L/2 Obviously, as seen from
eqn (l), the expenmental Hall electron density nH,
and thus the Hall factor K&) = l/(en,(z)), wdl shghtly
depend on the bias current Such a behavlour 1s shown
m Fig 5 for a device wltb a Hall factor K,,=404 mV/
mA,T and an mput resistance R,,=3500 fl under low
bias current The sensltnQ versus current of the Hall
factor induced by the backgatmg effect, S,=dZ&/dr,
amounts to 25 mV/mA’m These values for KH and S,
are smnlar to those obtamed with the best state-of-
the art vertical slhwn Hall-effect sensors [9]
6. Thenaal behaviour of the Hall factor
As the channel resistance &=(ekn,)-‘(LIP’) de-
pends on the temperature, mamly through the mob&y
 453

800

a
Baa0
B
e 400
4

1 200
~~,,,,'
8 \
0
-500 250 0 250 500
Blascurrent Iti @A) Btas current @A)
Fig 5 Hall factor vs btas current for an AlGaAsiInGaMGaAs Fig 7 Thermal sensltlvlty of the Hall factor as a function of
Hall device with a Hall electron dens@ n,= 15 X 1Ol’ cmW2 the bias current for the same device as III Fig 6

16. . . . . . . ..I.‘. I.... The value of the slope, 0 75 K-l A-l, 1s to be compared
with the expected value of the term m brackets in eqn
.
14- (3) Takmg into account the expenmental value of
3
the Hall factor under low biasing conditions, I&,=
+- 12
810 V/m, a device aspect ratio LIW=6, the chan-
“5
1 nel-substrate capacitance C, = lo-’ F/cmm2, and the
zi expenmental thermal denvatlve of the inverse mobility
OS from Fig 6, the calculated slope amounts ot 09 K-’
_ I,,_:,:
A-’ In spite of the crudeness of the model, this value
06
150 200 250 300 350 1s m good agreement with the expenmental one, thus
Temperature (K) demonstrating the vahdlty of this approach
Fig 6 Inverse mob&y vs temperature for an AlGaAs/InGaAs/ Interestingly, eqn (3) predicts the existence of a
GaAs Hall devxe with a Hall factor Km=-810 V/&T, showmg constant bias current for w&h the thermal drift of
the hnear relatlonshlp /L.-‘-T
the experunental Hall factor will remam very small
Tins allows a large operatmg temperature range without
external compensation This fact was also noticed by
p,,, the magnitude of the backgatmg effect will be Kyburz ei al [3] m 3D InAlAs/InGaAs/InP Hall sensors
temperature dependent If we now consider a Hall For the devxes shown m Fig 7, the value of this low-
device where the thermal dnft of the free electron thermal-d& bias current 1s about 05 mA, and the
density m the channel has already been reduced to a resultmg absolute sensmvlty amounts to 0 4-O 5 VfT
few hundred ppm/?Z, eqn (1) can be differentiated to The corresponding voltage drop m the device IS about
yield 3 V, and the power dissipation remains low, m the
1 dnH 1 dn* c, --- 1 L d(~L,-l)
mW range Usmg the same heterostructure, the value
--=----
(2) of the absolute magnetic sensltlvlty could be m pnnclple
nH dT n, dT eras0 enso 2W dT
increased by 50% by reducmg the aspect ratio of the
The thermal behavlour of the moblhty appeanng m Hall bar down to L/W=4
eqn (2) can be determined expenmentally As shown
m Fig 6, m such 2D devxes the inverse moblhty has
a hnear temperature dependence CL,,-’=aT 111the
temperature range of interest This 1s not surpnsing
since the moblhty 1s hmlted mainly by acoustic phonon 7. conclusiolls
scattermg
Thus, the relatnre thermal drift of the Hall factor Magnetic sensors Hnth supenor performance can be
reads designed by makmg use of the band-gap engmeenng
of III-V heterostructures The pseudomorphic AlGaAs/
s,=s,- c&,.Z$p-’ 1 (3) InGaAs/GaAs system, whose technology is available
[ 1 from mdustnal foundnes, 1s of particular interest [4,
As expected from eqn (3), a plot of the experunental 51 Hall-effect devices with a Hall factor amounting to
thermal dnft of the Hall factor S, shows a hnear at least 1000 V/A/T can be designed The mtnnslc
dependence on the bias current, as shown in Fig 7 temperature coefficient of the active layer electron
454
density can be reduced to a few 100 ppmPC Prehmmary
work mdlcated values as low as 100 ppmPC for devices
with a buned active channel The output sIgna of these
sensors also shows a low offset and an excellent hneanty
versus the magnetic mductlon
The non-hneatrty of the Hall factor versus the bias
current, orlgmatmg from backgatmg effects due to the
semi-msulatmg GaAs substrate, is comparable to that
reported for the best Sl Hall sensors [9] This backgatmg
effect can be used to decrease the temperature coef-
ficlent of the sensltlvlty down to 100 ppm?C, or maybe
even lower, m magnetic sensors ~th an absolute sen-
s1t1vlty of 0 4-o 5 v/T
Further work 1s under way to nnprove further the
performance of such devrces
Acknowledgements
This work was supported m part by the French
Minis&e de 1’Enselgnement Superleur et de la Re-
cherche Thanks are due to Drs K Zekentes, from
FORTH-IESL (Herakhon), J F Rochette, from PI-
copga and A Marty, from LAAS-CNRS, for the fab-
ncatlon of the devices used m this study
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