Patent ID: 7205622

Claim:
A vertical Hall effect apparatus, comprising: a substrate layer upon which an epitaxial layer is formed, wherein said epitaxial layer is surrounded vertically by an isolation layer and wherein an oxide layer is formed above said epitaxial layer; a plurality of adjacent contacts arranged side by side in a row within said epitaxial layer and separated by regions of said epitaxial layer; wherein said plurality of contacts comprise: a pair of Hall effect sensing contacts formed below said oxide layer, wherein said pair of Hall effect sensing contacts senses the components of an arbitrary magnetic field in a plane of said substrate and perpendicular to a current flow in at least one Hall effect sensing contact among said pair of Hall effect sensing contacts, and; a voltage contact (Vcc) formed centrally within said epitaxial layer between said pair of Hall effect sensing contacts; and a pair of ground contacts formed outwardly within said epitaxial layer, each of said ground contacts being located adjacent respective Hall effect sensing contacts; and a plurality of field plates formed above said oxide layer, wherein each of said plurality of field plates is located above a respective one of said epitaxial regions and between a respective immediately adjacent pair of said plurality of contacts such that said plurality of field plates control an inherited offset due to geometry control and processing of said vertical Hall effect apparatus, while preventing the formation of an output voltage of said vertical Hall effect apparatus at zero magnetic fields thereof.