Fully integrated three-axis Hall magnetic sensor based on micromachined structures

In this work we propose a new technological approach to fabricate a fully integrated three-axis Hall magnetic sensor. The three axial device fabrication process exploits microfabrication technologies applied to a GaAs-based heterostructure to obtain at the same time three mutually orthogonal sensors: an in-plane Hall sensor and two out-of-plane Hall sensors. A two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs multilayered structure constitutes the sensing medium of the micromachined devices, whereas an underlying strained InGaAs/GaAs bilayer allows the self-positioning of the out-of-plane devices by virtue of sacrificial layer removal and strain release. The in-plane and out-of-plane Hall sensors, show an excellent linearity versus the magnetic field with an absolute sensitivity as high as 0.03 V/T at 0.6 V bias voltage. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.