Planar Hall sensors for micro-Hall magnetometry

Abstract

In this work we present a new method to fabricate planar Hall sensors from GaAs–AlGaAs heterojunctions, which can be used to examine the local stray field at a specific section of a micron-sized magnet. Instead of mesa etching we implanted oxygen ions with an energy of 1.5 keV which deplete the two-dimensional electron gas underneath the exposed areas but leave the wafer flat. Planar double Hall cross devices were employed to investigate 30 nm thick electroplated Ni rings with outer and inner diameters ranging from 1.2 to 2 µm and from 0.3 to 1.6 µm, respectively. By comparing the signals from both Hall crosses of the sensor, we can distinguish between local stray field variations and changes of the global magnetization pattern. A hysteresis loop measured at a temperature of 110 K suggests that magnetization reversal occurs via a magnetic vortex structure.