Composed planar Hall effect sensors with dual-mode operation

Abstract

We present a composed planar Hall effect sensor with two modes of operation: (a) an ON mode where the composed sensor responds to magnetic field excitations similarly to the response of a regular planar Hall effect sensor, and (b) an OFF mode where the response is negligible. The composed planar Hall effect sensor switches from the OFF mode to the ON mode when it is exposed to a magnetic field which exceeds a certain threshold determined by the sensor design. The features of this sensor make it useful as a switch triggered by magnetic field and as a sensing device with memory, as its mode of operation indicates exposure to a magnetic field larger than a certain threshold without the need to be activated during the exposure itself.