Micronas presenting first 3D Hall sensor (PR0909)

Innovative sensor with vertical Hall elements designed for automotive and industrial applications, as well as for use in home appliances

Freiburg, May 20, 2009 - Micronas (SIX Swiss Exchange: MASN), a leading supplier of innovative application-specific IC and sensor system solutions for automotive electronics, today launched the new HAL 36xy family with their HAL 3625 Hall-effect sensor based on Micronas’ 3D-Hall technology and equipped with vertical Hall elements. This technology allows rotation angles from 0° to 360° to be detected directly with minimum measuring efforts.

Unlike today’s usual Hall sensors, which use one Hall element to measure at one level only (Z-axis), the new technology allows the detection of an additional X and Y axis. Combining different axes and using the appropriate signal processing, a so-called 3D Hall sensor has been realized. The great advantage of these vertical Hall-effect sensors is that they can be manufactured in a standard CMOS process without additional post-processing. This process delivers products with ultimate quality and reliability, especially for the demanding automotive market. 

The HAL 36xy product family will include several versions which will also differ in a number of essential characteristics and properties. The first member of this family offered by Micronas will be the HAL 3625 which delivers a ratiometric output format.

The 3D Hall sensor HAL 3625 features integrated signal processing and is suitable for applications calling for ultimate reliability or if operation at high ambient temperatures is intended. Customers already familiar with the standard Hall sensors (1D) can continue to use this valuable know-how. 

"The HAL 3625 is suitable for use in automobiles for any type of valves, TPS, EGR, turbo chargers, steering angles and so on, but also for home appliances, for instance for selector switches and for out-of-balance detection in white goods. Used in industrial automation engineering, the sensor can be combined with every kind of actuator. With the HAL 3625, Micronas targets customers such as OEMs, integrators and engineering offices", says Peter Zimmermann, Director Marketing at Micronas.

The Hall sensor will be available in the SOIC8 package and aims for the temperature range TJ = –40 °C to +170 °C. The HAL 3625 will be offered at a price range between 1.5 € and 2.0 € with unit quantities of 100K. Samples in the SOIC8 package will be available after the third quarter of 2009. There is also the option of supplying customers only with the silicon dies.

Micronas will present the HAL 3625 at the Sensor+Test 2009 industrial trade fair in Nuremberg, Germany (booth 12-558) from May 26 to 28 and at the Sensors Expo & Conference in Chicago, USA (booth 915) from June 8 to 10, 2009.