An integrated micro-Hall probe for scanning magnetic microscopy

A new microsystern with the ability to detect magnetic microstructures based on the non-invasive Hall principle is presented. The micro-Hall plate embedded in the microsystem and scaled down to the physical limits of the employed CMOS technology has an active area of only 2.4 mu m x 2.4 mu m. The microsystem exhibits an output sensitivity of 7.5 V/T in perpendicular direction to the chip surface and a magnetic field resolution of 300 nT/root Hz at 1 Hz. A two-dimensional magnetic scanner was developed to demonstrate the performances of the developed microsystem. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.