AN117 From Hall Effect To TMR Rev0.1

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From Hall Effect to TMR

by a DC voltage supply and a voltmeter connected


1 Abstract to the sides of the conductive plate.
This paper compares the century old Hall effect
technology to xMR technologies, specifically TMR
(Tunnel Magneto-Resistance) from Crocus
Technology. It covers the various concepts behind
all technologies and the major differences between
the end-products.

2 Introduction
There is a multitude of systems to transduce a
magnetic field to a proportional voltage. These
magnetic sensors have been implemented into Figure 1 The Hall effect in a thin plate.
different applications within different industries. Under no magnetic field, the voltmeter should read
Some applications include: magnetic encoders, e- 0 V in Figure 1 (a). However, when a magnetic
compass, absolute angle sensor, simple on/off field, perpendicular to the current flow, is applied to
switch, current sensing. the plate, a small voltage appears across the plate,
which can be measured by the voltmeter Figure 1
Hall-effect was discovered by Edwin Hall in 1879.
(b).
After more than a century of development, Hall
effect sensors have reached limitations that are The separation of charge establishes an electric
forcing system designers to search for new field that opposes the migration of further charge,
technologies to achieve their targets of: power so a steady electrical potential is established for as
consumption, sensitivity, accuracy and cost. long as the electrons are flowing. The force that
pushes charged particles such as electrons is
TMR technology is the natural evolution of older
called the Lorentz force and is described by the
technologies like GMR and AMR. This paper will
following equation:
provide a very high level introduction to the different
technologies by understanding the physics behind
every phenomenon. Then, the paper gives an in-
𝐹𝐹⃑ = 𝑞𝑞0 𝐸𝐸�⃑ + 𝑞𝑞0 𝑣𝑣⃑ × 𝐵𝐵
�⃑
depth look at Crocus Technology’s TMR solution. Equation 1 Lorentz Force Equation.

F is the resultant force, E is the electric field, v is


3 The Physics the velocity of the charge, B is the magnetic field
and q is the magnitude of the charge.
3.1 Hall Effect
This equation represents two separate effects: the
Conceptually, it is simple to setup a demonstration
response of a charge to an electric field and the
of the Hall effect. Illustrated in Figure 1, the Hall
response of a moving charge to a magnetic field.
effect demonstrator requires a thin plate of
When a magnetic field is applied to a moving
conductive material, carrying current (I) generated
charged particle, it experiences the Lorentz force.

© 2018 Crocus Technology 1


Document # : AN117 – From Hall Effect to TMR Rev0.1
3.2 Hall Effect in Semiconductors 3.3.1 Electron Scattering
The Hall effect’s thin plate can be implemented in a Every electron has two key parameters: charge and
CMOS process. This enables semiconductor spin. Every electron has the same charge -1.602 ×
companies to develop various products based on 10-19 C. However, an electron can have either a
Hall effect technology. spin UP or a spin DOWN. This was experimentally
proven in 1922, confirming that electrons possess
Typically, the conducting plate will be grown directly an intrinsic angular momentum and a magnetic
on the substrate by doping the silicon with different moment.
materials to create either n-type or p-type carrier
regions. The doped region is then connected to the
rest of the circuit with the help of metal VIAs
(Vertical Interconnect Access).

Figure 3 The two possible spin positions of an


electron.
Figure 2 Cross section of a single Hall element.
It is important to understand that the Lorentz force
Figure 2 (a) shows a top view of a Hall effect plate
acts on the electrons due to their charge and that
implemented on CMOS substrate, Figure 2 (b)
the magneto resistive phenomenon is due to the
shows the cross section where N-epi doped silicon
spin of the electrons.
is shown.
When travelling inside a conductive material, the
3.3 Magneto-Resistance electron can scatter. Electron scattering refers to a
Magneto-Resistance is the property of a device to phenomenon where electrons deviate from the
change its electrical value under a magnetic field. normal trajectory due to electrostatic forces within
the material.
This effect is observed in ferromagnetic materials:
these are materials that have magnetic properties. The Lorentz force appears on a charged moving
Metals like iron (Fe), nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co) are particle (i.e. electron) within a conductive material
ferromagnetic while copper (Cu) is not a when subjected to a magnetic field. This force
ferromagnetic material. Changing the affects all particle with a charge and is independent
magnetization of the material affects how the of the electron spins.
electrons travel inside the material, thus changing
the electrical resistance of the device. When electrons travel inside a ferromagnetic
material (i.e. material with a certain magnetization).
The spin of electrons (either up or down) will

© 2018 Crocus Technology 2


Document Number: AN117 – From Hall Effect to TMR Rev0.1
increase or decrease their scattering probability
within the magnetized material. This is the origin of
the MR effect.

3.3.2 AMR
The first discovery of this effect dates back to 1856
by William Thomson. The effect is referred to today
as AMR (Anisotropic Magneto-Resistance).

Figure 6 Two AMR elements under different


magnetic fields.

When the magnetization, M, is parallel to the


current, I, the resistance reaches its maximum
value as electronic orbits are perpendicular to
current, this in turn increases the spin dependent
scattering thus increasing the electrical resistance.
Conversely, when the magnetization (M) is
perpendicular, the electronic orbits are parallel to
Figure 4 Single AMR element. the current reducing the spin dependent scattering
which leads to a lower resistance value.
This effect can be easily demonstrated using a
ferromagnetic material and a biasing current under Because of the simplicity and ease of CMOS
an external magnetic field. integration of this phenomenon, multiple types of
devices make use of this technology for various
application and these products are made available
from several semiconductor companies such as:
Honeywell, NXP and ST.
Resistance

The biggest limitation of this technology is the MR


effect itself which is the change in resistance from
its maximum to minimum values. It is usually limited
to a 5% change.

3.3.3 GMR
Giant Magneto-Resistance (GMR) was first
0 90 180 270 360 discovered in 1988 independently by Albert Fert
Angle between (I) and (M) and Peter Grünberg. Both were later rewarded the
Nobel Prize in 2007 for this discovery.

GMR is observed in thin-film structures composed


Figure 5 AMR element resistance change under
rotating magnetic field. of alternating ferromagnetic and non-magnetic
conductive layers.

© 2018 Crocus Technology 3


Document Number: AN117 – From Hall Effect to TMR Rev0.1
3.3.4 TMR
Tunnel Magneto-Resistance (TMR) was first
discovered in 1991 by Terunobu Miyazaki. The
main difference between GMR and TMR was in the
non-magnetic layer.

TMR requires the use of an extremely thin non-


magnetic and non-conducting insulation layer
between the ferromagnetic layers. If the insulating
Figure 7 GMR structures showing spin-dependent layer is thin enough (typically a few nanometers),
scattering. electrons can tunnel from one ferromagnet into the
The magnetization of both ferromagnetic layers will other. Since this process is forbidden in classical
impact the spin-dependent scattering of electrons physics, the tunnel magneto-resistance is a strictly
travelling inside the junction. quantum mechanical phenomenon.

Electrons traveling through the ferromagnetic layer


interact with it much weaker when their spin
directions are opposite to the magnetization of the
material than when they are parallel to it.

Figure 9 TMR junction showing two Ferromagnets


and a tunnel barrier.

H The MR effect in TMR junctions can reach more


than 100% in production. In lab conditions, levels
upwards of 1,000% were achieved.

Figure 8 GMR element response under different


configurations. 3.3.5 Signal Amplitude – MR Effect
TMR offers the best sensitivity compared to Hall,
GMR revolutionized the hard-drives by making the
AMR and GMR. This is shown on the graph below
reading head smaller than the usual coil. This
that represents the change of resistance or the
allowed for smaller storage magnets on the hard-
Magnetoresistance when a rotating magnetic field
disk which then lead to higher storage capacities on
is applied.
the hard-drives.
Another advantage that TMR and also GMR offer
However, GMR is still limited by the percentage
compared to AMR is the ability of the magnetic
change between high and low resistance states,
junction to sense a 360° applied field. This offers a
typically around 20%.
great advantage when designing an absolute angle
sensor.

© 2018 Crocus Technology 4


Document Number: AN117 – From Hall Effect to TMR Rev0.1
Note that the graph below is not made to scale to
be able show the sinusoidal signal of AMR. The 4 TMR from Crocus Technology
percentage numbers on the graph represent the
Many teams around the world have now
change of resistance from RMIN to RMAX for every
demonstrated TMR junctions in their respective
signal.
labs. However, very few companies have
committed to moving this technology into full-
fledged products.
100%
TMR The following section explains two key aspects that
differentiate Crocus Technology TMR from other
Resistance

TMR-based products.
10% GMR
1% 4.1 CMOS Process Agnostic
AMR
Crocus Technology does not own a CMOS foundry.
It operates as an IP provider, offering any foundry
the opportunity to add TMR technology to their
portfolio.
0 90 180 270 360
External magnetic field angle

Figure 10 Not to scale, Signal amplitude


comparison AMR, GMR and TMR

Another method to visualize the difference in


sensitivity between the three main MR technologies
in shown below.

100%

Figure 12 Typical CMOS structure.


MR effect (%)

Another advantage of this technology is that it is


deposited during BEOL (Back-End-Of-Line). This
means that compared to Hall effect sensors which
are deposited during FEOL (Front-End-Of-Line)),
Crocus Technology’s TMR sensor does not take
precious space on the substrate. Crocus
1% 10% Technology has developed extensive experience in
depositing the TMR sensor between metal layers
AMR
Figure 11 GMR
MR effect comparison TMR especially dealing with mechanical stress over the
junctions.

© 2018 Crocus Technology 5


Document Number: AN117 – From Hall Effect to TMR Rev0.1
4.2 Field Lines During the lifetime of the device, the field lines are
used to generate a local magnetic field to
Under every Crocus TMR junction, there is a “Field
compensate the external field being measured,
line”. Borrowed from the MRAM (Magneti-
enabling the sensor to reach very high dynamic
resistance Random Access Memory) memory
ranges, excellent linearity and overall good
design, where the field lines served to program the
performance.
junctions. They have become essential to the
operations of the Crocus sensor.
4.3 On-Wafer Programming
MR technology (be it GMR or TMR) was known in
the past for its difficult manufacturability. The main
reason to this, was the need for a “magnetic
temperature chamber” for initial programming of the
TMR junctions.

A typical TMR junction has two layers, the first has


a fixed magnetization (called the reference layer),
and the second layer (called the sense layer) is free
to follow the external magnetic field.

The magnetization of the fixed layer (programming)


is extremely important to having a sensor with good
magnetic properties. This programming step
requires both a high magnetic field and high
temperature. This combination is not standard in
CMOS processing.

Moreover, putting an entire wafer inside such


chamber would program all the TMR junctions in
one direction. Limiting the possibility of having a
monolithic differential sensor.

Figure 13 Field line with regards to the TMR Crocus solved this issue by using the field lines to
junction. differentially program the sensors. This process is
The main objective of the field lines is to generate a referred to as DTAP (Differential Thermal Assisted
local, homogeneous magnetic field. The field lines Programming).
are used both during production and during the
lifetime of the sensor.
5 Conclusion
During production, they are used to program and Crocus Technology’s TMR offers the best
trim the sensor products. Enabling huge savings as alternative to older magnetic sensors. Advantages
any standard test equipment can program, trim and include: lowest power consumption in the 200 nA
test the devices without anther specialized machine range, high sensitivity reaching 600 mV/mT and a
generating and controlling an external magnetic cost-effective solution due to the high CMOS
field. integration capability which enables a monolithic IC
(integrated circuit).

© 2018 Crocus Technology 6


Document Number: AN117 – From Hall Effect to TMR Rev0.1

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