J. Semicond. > 2022, Volume 43 > Issue 3 > 034101, doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/43/3/034101
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Modelling and fabrication of wide temperature range Al0.24Ga0.76As/GaAs Hall magnetic sensors

Hua Fan1, 6, , Huichao Yue1, Jiangmin Mao1, Ting Peng2, , Siming Zuo3, Quanyuan Feng4, Qi Wei5, and Hadi Heidari6

+ Author Affiliations

 Corresponding author: Hua Fan, fanhua7531@163.com; Ting Peng, pengt@hiwafer.com; Qi Wei, weiqi@tsinghua.edu.cn

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Abstract: Silicon Hall-effect sensors have been widely used in industry and research fields due to their straightforward fabrication process and CMOS compatibility. However, as their material property limitations, technicians usually implement complex CMOS circuits to improve the sensors’ performance including temperature drift and offset compensation for fitting tough situation, but it is no doubt that it increases the design complexity and the sensor area. Gallium arsenide (GaAs) is a superior material of Hall-effect device because of its large mobility and stable temperature characteristics. Concerning there is no specified modelling of GaAs Hall-effect device, this paper investigated its modelling by using finite element method (FEM) software Silvaco TCAD® to help and guide GaAs Hall-effect device fabrication. The modeled sensor has been fabricated and its experimental results are in agreement with the simulation results. Comparing to our previous silicon Hall-effect sensor, the GaAs Hall-effect sensor demonstrates potential and reliable benchmark for the future Hall magnetic sensor developments.

Key words: Hall-effect sensors, GaAs Hall sensor, GaAs semiconductor device



[1]
Popovic R S, Randjelovic Z, Manic D. Integrated Hall-effect magnetic sensors. Sens Actuat A, 2001, 91, 46 doi: 10.1016/S0924-4247(01)00478-2
[2]
Heidari H, Bonizzoni E, Gatti U, et al. A CMOS current-mode magnetic hall sensor with integrated front-end. IEEE Trans Circuits Syst I, 2015, 62, 1270 doi: 10.1109/TCSI.2015.2415173
[3]
Pastre M, Kayal M, Blanchard H. A hall sensor analog front end for current measurement with continuous gain calibration. IEEE Sens J, 2007, 7, 860 doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2007.894902
[4]
Ajbl A, Pastre M, Kayal M. A fully integrated hall sensor microsystem for contactless current measurement. IEEE Sens J, 2013, 13, 2271 doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2013.2251971
[5]
Randjelovic Z B, Kayal M, Popovic R, et al. Highly sensitive Hall magnetic sensor microsystem in CMOS technology. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2002, 37, 151 doi: 10.1109/4.982421
[6]
Dowling K M, Alpert H S, Yalamarthy A S, et al. Micro-tesla offset in thermally stable AlGaN/GaN 2DEG hall plates using current spinning. IEEE Sens Lett, 2019, 3, 1 doi: 10.1109/LSENS.2019.2898157
[7]
Dowling K M, Alpert H A, Zhang P, et al. The effect of bias conditions ON AlGaN/GaN 2DEG hall plates. 2018 Solid-State, Actuators, and Microsystems Workshop, 2018
[8]
Sze S. Physics of semiconductor devices. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1981
[9]
Haned N, Missous M. Nano-tesla magnetic field magnetometry using an InGaAs-AlGaAs-GaAs 2DEG Hall sensor. Sens Actuat A, 2003, 102, 216 doi: 10.1016/S0924-4247(02)00386-2
[10]
Mosser V, Matringe N, Haddab Y. A spinning current circuit for Hall measurements down to the nanotesla range. IEEE Trans Instrum Meas, 2017, 66, 637 doi: 10.1109/TIM.2017.2649858
[11]
Heidari H, Bonizzoni E, Gatti U, et al. CMOS vertical Hall magnetic sensors on flexible substrate. IEEE Sens J, 2016, 16, 8736 doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2016.2575802
[12]
Heidari H, Bonizzoni E, Gatti U, et al. A 0.18-µm CMOS current-mode Hall magnetic sensor with very low bias current and high sensitive front-end. Sensors, 2014, 1467 doi: 10.1109/ICSENS.2014.6985291
[13]
Allegretto W, Nathan A, Baltes H. Numerical analysis of magnetic-field-sensitive bipolar devices. IEEE Trans Comput Aided Des Integr Circuits Syst, 1991, 10, 501 doi: 10.1109/43.75633
[14]
Sotoodeh M, Khalid A H, Rezazadeh A A. Empirical low-field mobility model for III-V compounds applicable in device simulation codes. J Appl Phys, 2000, 87, 2890 doi: 10.1063/1.372274
[15]
Jovanovic E, Pesic T, Pantic D. 3D simulation of cross-shaped Hall sensor and its equivalent circuit model. 2004 24th International Conference on Microelectronics, 2004, 235
[16]
Heidari H, Gatti U, Bonizzoni E, et al. Low-noise low-offset current-mode Hall sensors. Proceedings of the 2013 9th Conference on Ph. D. Research in Microelectronics and Electronics, 2013, 325
[17]
Jankowski J, El-Ahmar S, Oszwaldowski M. Hall sensors for extreme temperatures. Sensors, 2011, 11, 876 doi: 10.3390/s110100876
[18]
Wouters C, Vranković V, Rössler C, et al. Design and fabrication of an innovative three-axis Hall sensor. Sens Actuat A, 2016, 237, 62 doi: 10.1016/j.sna.2015.11.022
Fig. 1.  (Color online) GaAs Hall-effect sensor layers structures.

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Fig. 2.  (Color online) (a) Fully symmetrical cross-shaped Hall element. (b) The Hall voltage of the fully symmetrical cross Hall element changes with the shape.

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Fig. 3.  (Color online) (a) Narrow cross-shaped Hall element. (b) The Hall voltage of the narrow cross Hall element varies with the width of the output port.

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Fig. 4.  (Color online) GaAs Hall-effect sensor built in Silvaco TCAD.

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Fig. 5.  (Color online) (a) The 2D vertical cut-plane of Hall-effect sensor. GaAs layer (bottle green) is the doping layer and AlxGa1−xAs/GaAs (green) is the channel layer. (b) Electrons distribution of 2DEG GaAs Hall-effect sensor in 1D when a 5 V supply voltage is added. (c) Simulated output voltage of AlxGa1−xAs/GaAs Hall sensor.

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Fig. 6.  (Color online) Fabricated AlxGa1−xAs/GaAs Hall sensor microphotograph.

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Fig. 7.  (Color online) (a) Simulated sensitivity of the voltage-mode Hall sensor. (b) Dependence of temperature on output voltage. (c) Simulated offset with different misalignment of output contacts.

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Fig. 8.  (Color online) Combining 2 types of epilayer structure and 2 physical models, 4 simulation results are presented. Experiment results are added for comparison with (a, b) magnetic field and (c, d) temperature (50 mT).

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Table 1.   Comparison of five materials of Hall-effect devices.

MaterialElectron mobility (cm2/(V·s))Energy gap (eV)
Si13501.1
GaN16003.39
GaAs85001.43
InAs400000.36
InSb780000.17
DownLoad: CSV

Table 2.   The comparison of simulation results and experimental results at 300 K.

ParameterCaughey- Thomas[16]Caughey- Thomas[13]Experiment
Mobility
(cm2 /(V·s))		414445044480
Hall mobility
(cm2 /(V·s))		455845045010
Sensitivity
(V/(V·T))		0.260.240.28
Absolute sensitivity
(V/T)		1.321.21.38
DownLoad: CSV

Table 3.   The comparison of different types of Hall-effect devices.

ParameterJovanovic[15]Dowling[7]Jankowski[17]Haned[9]Wouters[18]This work
MaterialSiGaNInSbGaAs/InGaAsGaAsGaAs
Power supply (V)0.4–0.50.04–0.55 × 10–41.750.0745
Sensitivity (V/(V·T))0.0430.0572 V/(A·T)400 V/(A·T)100–107 V/(A·T)0.28
Absolute sensitivity (V/T)0.0172–0.02150.00228–0.02850.10.4<0.01071.38
Offset (mV)19.472 × 10–5–0.142–805
Input resistance (kΩ)–1.560.011.750.65–0.741.2
Output resistance (kΩ)–1.560.011.750.65–0.742.4
DownLoad: CSV
[1]
Popovic R S, Randjelovic Z, Manic D. Integrated Hall-effect magnetic sensors. Sens Actuat A, 2001, 91, 46 doi: 10.1016/S0924-4247(01)00478-2
[2]
Heidari H, Bonizzoni E, Gatti U, et al. A CMOS current-mode magnetic hall sensor with integrated front-end. IEEE Trans Circuits Syst I, 2015, 62, 1270 doi: 10.1109/TCSI.2015.2415173
[3]
Pastre M, Kayal M, Blanchard H. A hall sensor analog front end for current measurement with continuous gain calibration. IEEE Sens J, 2007, 7, 860 doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2007.894902
[4]
Ajbl A, Pastre M, Kayal M. A fully integrated hall sensor microsystem for contactless current measurement. IEEE Sens J, 2013, 13, 2271 doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2013.2251971
[5]
Randjelovic Z B, Kayal M, Popovic R, et al. Highly sensitive Hall magnetic sensor microsystem in CMOS technology. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2002, 37, 151 doi: 10.1109/4.982421
[6]
Dowling K M, Alpert H S, Yalamarthy A S, et al. Micro-tesla offset in thermally stable AlGaN/GaN 2DEG hall plates using current spinning. IEEE Sens Lett, 2019, 3, 1 doi: 10.1109/LSENS.2019.2898157
[7]
Dowling K M, Alpert H A, Zhang P, et al. The effect of bias conditions ON AlGaN/GaN 2DEG hall plates. 2018 Solid-State, Actuators, and Microsystems Workshop, 2018
[8]
Sze S. Physics of semiconductor devices. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1981
[9]
Haned N, Missous M. Nano-tesla magnetic field magnetometry using an InGaAs-AlGaAs-GaAs 2DEG Hall sensor. Sens Actuat A, 2003, 102, 216 doi: 10.1016/S0924-4247(02)00386-2
[10]
Mosser V, Matringe N, Haddab Y. A spinning current circuit for Hall measurements down to the nanotesla range. IEEE Trans Instrum Meas, 2017, 66, 637 doi: 10.1109/TIM.2017.2649858
[11]
Heidari H, Bonizzoni E, Gatti U, et al. CMOS vertical Hall magnetic sensors on flexible substrate. IEEE Sens J, 2016, 16, 8736 doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2016.2575802
[12]
Heidari H, Bonizzoni E, Gatti U, et al. A 0.18-µm CMOS current-mode Hall magnetic sensor with very low bias current and high sensitive front-end. Sensors, 2014, 1467 doi: 10.1109/ICSENS.2014.6985291
[13]
Allegretto W, Nathan A, Baltes H. Numerical analysis of magnetic-field-sensitive bipolar devices. IEEE Trans Comput Aided Des Integr Circuits Syst, 1991, 10, 501 doi: 10.1109/43.75633
[14]
Sotoodeh M, Khalid A H, Rezazadeh A A. Empirical low-field mobility model for III-V compounds applicable in device simulation codes. J Appl Phys, 2000, 87, 2890 doi: 10.1063/1.372274
[15]
Jovanovic E, Pesic T, Pantic D. 3D simulation of cross-shaped Hall sensor and its equivalent circuit model. 2004 24th International Conference on Microelectronics, 2004, 235
[16]
Heidari H, Gatti U, Bonizzoni E, et al. Low-noise low-offset current-mode Hall sensors. Proceedings of the 2013 9th Conference on Ph. D. Research in Microelectronics and Electronics, 2013, 325
[17]
Jankowski J, El-Ahmar S, Oszwaldowski M. Hall sensors for extreme temperatures. Sensors, 2011, 11, 876 doi: 10.3390/s110100876
[18]
Wouters C, Vranković V, Rössler C, et al. Design and fabrication of an innovative three-axis Hall sensor. Sens Actuat A, 2016, 237, 62 doi: 10.1016/j.sna.2015.11.022

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    Received: 20 November 2021 Revised: 27 December 2021 Online: Accepted Manuscript: 19 January 2022Uncorrected proof: 12 February 2022Published: 10 March 2022

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      Article Navigation >  Journal of Semiconductors  > 2022  >  43(3): 034101
      Hua Fan, Huichao Yue, Jiangmin Mao, Ting Peng, Siming Zuo, Quanyuan Feng, Qi Wei, Hadi Heidari. Modelling and fabrication of wide temperature range Al0.24Ga0.76As/GaAs Hall magnetic sensors[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2022, 43(3): 034101. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/43/3/034101 H Fan, H C Yue, J Mao, T Peng, S M Zuo, Q Feng, Q Wei, H Heidari, Modelling and fabrication of wide temperature range Al0.24Ga0.76As/GaAs Hall magnetic sensors[J]. J. Semicond., 2022, 43(3): 034101. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/43/3/034101.Export: BibTex EndNote
      Citation:
      Hua Fan, Huichao Yue, Jiangmin Mao, Ting Peng, Siming Zuo, Quanyuan Feng, Qi Wei, Hadi Heidari. Modelling and fabrication of wide temperature range Al0.24Ga0.76As/GaAs Hall magnetic sensors[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2022, 43(3): 034101. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/43/3/034101

      H Fan, H C Yue, J Mao, T Peng, S M Zuo, Q Feng, Q Wei, H Heidari, Modelling and fabrication of wide temperature range Al0.24Ga0.76As/GaAs Hall magnetic sensors[J]. J. Semicond., 2022, 43(3): 034101. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/43/3/034101.
      Export: BibTex EndNote
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      Modelling and fabrication of wide temperature range Al0.24Ga0.76As/GaAs Hall magnetic sensors

      doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/43/3/034101
      • 1.

        State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China

      • 2.

        Chengdu HiWafer Semiconductor Co., Ltd., Chengdu 610225, China

      • 3.

        James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, G12 8QQ, Glasgow, UK

      • 4.

        Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 611756, China

      • 5.

        Department of Precision Instrument, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

      • 6.

        Institute of Electronic and Information Engineering of UESTC in Guangdong, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Dongguan 523878, China

      More Information
      • Author Bio:

        Hua Fan (M’16) was born in Ziyang, Sichuan, China, in 1981. She received the B.S. degree in communications engineering and the M.S. degree in Computer science and technology, both from Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China, in 2003 and 2006, respectively. She received the Ph.D. degree from Tsinghua University, Beijing, in July 2013. From September 2013 to June 2016, she was an assistant professor of University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, from July 2016 to 2021, she is an associate professor of University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China. From July 2021 to present, she is a professor of University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China

        Huichao Yue was born in Gaocheng, Hebei, China, in 1999. He received the B.S. degree in microelectronics science and technology from University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China in 2021. From August 2021 to present, he is a master student of University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China. His main research interest is Hall sensor

        Jiangmin Mao was born in Huaihua, Hunan, China, in 1995. He received the B.S. degree in microelectronic science and technology from Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, China, in 2017. From August 2017, he is making efforts for the master degree in integrated engineering in the School of Electronic Science and Technology at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China. His research interests include Hall-effect sensor, magnetic device, sensor interface design, and digital system design

        Ting Peng received the B.S. degree in Physics and Ph.D. degrees in Microelectronics and Solid State Electronics, from Wuhan University, Hubei, China, in 2005 and 2010, respectively. Since 2011, he has been working on the research and development of GaAs based electron devices and process, with GaAs Technology Department, Chengdu HiWafer Semiconductor Co. Ltd., where he is currently the manager of the Department

        Siming Zuo is a Research Technician at the James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow. He has submitted his PhD dissertation in January 2021 and will take up a Research Assistant post in meLAB from June 2021. His PhD on magnetomyography with spintronics led to multiple peer-review papers. He received the SFB 1261 Fellowship, Germany (2018). His work was recognized by a Best Paper Award from IEEE PrimeAsia’18 and two IEEE Travel Grants to attend ISCAS 2019 and 2020

        Quanyuan Feng (M’06–SM’08) received the M.S. degree in microelectronics and solid electronics from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China, in 1991, and the Ph.D. degree in electromagnetic field and microwave technology from Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, in 2000. He is currently the Head of the Institute of Micro-electronics, Southwest Jiaotong University

        Qi Wei received the Ph.D. degree from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 2010. He is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University. His research interests include ME-MS inertial sensors, application- specific integrated circuit(ASIC) design, and high-performance data converters

        Hadi Heidari (S’11–M’15–SM’17) is an Assistant Professor (Lecturer) in the James Watt School of Engineering at the University of Glasgow, United Kingdom. His Microelectronics Lab (meLAB) consists of 3 postdoctoral researchers and 8 PhD students, conducts pioneering research on magneto electronics and integrated microelectronics design for wearable and implantable devices. He has authored over 150 articles in peer reviewed journals (e.g. IEEE Solid-State Circuits Journal, Trans. Circuits and Systems I and IEEE Trans. Electron Devices) and in international conferences

      • Corresponding author: fanhua7531@163.com; pengt@hiwafer.com; weiqi@tsinghua.edu.cn
      • Received Date: 2021-11-20
      • Accepted Date: 2022-01-18
      • Revised Date: 2021-12-27
      • Published Date: 2022-03-10

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