Simulation model for a silicon Hall sensor in an absolute digital position detection system

The performance of a digital position detection system with silicon Hall sensors for the detection of coded absolute position data has been investigated. The position information is fixed in one single track as a maximum length sequence of bits by means of longitudinal saturation recording in a hard-magnetic layer. The Hall elements are positioned with their surface parallel to the hard-magnetic layer. An efficient computer simulation model has been realized which calculates the response of a Hall element in the fringing field. The computed results are compared with experimental data on Hall elements which were realised using MOS-IC technology. The simulation model appeared to be sufficiently accurate for a first-order estimation of the performance of an absolute position detection system on the basis of silicon Hall elements. The resolution which can be realized depends strongly on the noise level in the elements and will be of the order of a few hundred μm.