Patent ID: 6362618
Filing Date: 2002-03-26
Classification: G01R

Abstract:
A Hall sensor comprising:a Hall plate having terminals for supplying a supply current and for tapping a Hall voltage; a Hall circuit connecting said terminals; a device for orthogonally switching the supply current and the Hall voltage between a first set of said terminals and a second set of said terminals arranged orthogonally to said first set of said terminals, wherein a geometry of said Hall plate is identical for said first and second set of said terminals; a summation device configured to receive measured Hall voltage values from said first and second sets of said terminals and to determine an offset-compensated Hall voltage value; said summation device configured to receive and/or process the Hall voltage values of said first and second set of said terminals such that, for stress measurement, portions of the Hall voltage values resulting from the magnetic field acting on the Hall sensors are compensated and only portions of the Hall voltage values resulting from the offset are measured; wherein during orthogonally switching the supply current is switched by 180Â° in comparison to the orthogonal switching of the Hall voltage for determining an offset-compensated Hall voltage value for the stress measurement, while the orthogonal switching of the Hall voltage tapping remains unchanged in comparison to the orthogonal switching for determining the offset-compensated Hall voltage value.