InAs quantum well magnetic sensors with high sensitivity and excellent temperature stability

Abstract

This paper reports on the fabrication and characterization of Hall and magnetoresistive sensors with high sensitivity and excellent temperature stability. InAs/AlGaSb quantum well structures grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on semiinsulating GaAs substrates were used as active layers for magnetic field sensing. The excellent transport properties (electron mobilities up to 28,000 cm/sup 2//Vs at room temperature) resulted in high sensitivity for room temperature operation of magnetoresistors (relative sensitivity: 460%/T to 0.25 T) and Hall elements (sensitivity for current drive: 300 V/A/T, for voltage drive: 0.9 T/sup -1/).