Patent ID: 8896303

Claim:
A vertical Hall-effect sensor system disposed on a semiconductor substrate, comprising: a first conductive Hall-effect region arranged beneath a surface of the semiconductor substrate; at least two supply terminals arranged to supply electrical energy to the first Hall-effect region; at least one Hall signal terminal arranged to provide a first Hall signal from the first Hall-effect region, the first Hall signal being indicative of a magnetic field which is parallel to the surface of the semiconductor substrate and which acts on the first Hall-effect region; wherein one or more of the at least two supply terminals or one or more of the at least one Hall signal terminal comprises a force contact and a sense contact; and a feedback control circuit comprising: an output connected to the force contact and having a first impedance, an input connected to the sense contact and having a second impedance, the second impedance being higher than the first impedance, and a feedback loop to adjust a potential on the output of the feedback control circuit until a potential on the input of the feedback control circuit is equal to a reference potential.