Patent ID: 9411023
Filing Date: 2016-08-09
CPC Classification: G01R,H01L

Claim Text:
1. A magnetic field sensing element arrangement, comprising: a semiconductor substrate having first and second parallel major surfaces parallel to an x-y plane; a plurality of planar Hall elements arranged as a circular planar Hall (CPH) structure, wherein each one of the plurality of planar Hall elements is arranged upon a common circular implant region in the first major surface of the semiconductor substrate, wherein the plurality of planar Hall elements is configured to generate a plurality of z output signals responsive to a magnetic field having a direction component in a z direction orthogonal to the x-y plane; and a processing circuit disposed upon the semiconductor substrate and coupled to receive a signal representative of the plurality of z output signals, wherein each one of the plurality of planar Hall elements comprises a respective group of planar Hall element contacts, wherein the processing circuit is operable to process the plurality of planar Hall elements using a plurality of groups of the planar Hall element contacts to generate the signal representative of the plurality of z output signals, the processing circuit comprising a z direction component processor coupled to receive the signal representative of the plurality of z output signals and configured to generate an intermediate signal responsive to the direction component of the magnetic field in the z direction, wherein the intermediate signal comprises a DC signal component having a DC signal value responsive to a magnitude of the direction component of the magnetic field in the z direction, wherein the processing circuit is operable to generate an output signal indicative of the magnitude of the direction component of the magnetic field in the z direction responsive to the DC signal value.