Recirculating charge transfer magnetic field sensor

摘要

A device for producing an output voltage which is proportional to an applied magnetic field. The device includes a plurality charge injection regions, a corresponding plurality of charge exit regions, and a charge transfer region. The charge transfer region includes gate electrodes which serve to propagate at least one isolated charge packet across the charge transfer region in a predetermined direction from the charge input region to the charge output region. The charge packet is subject to the applied magnetic field which is perpendicular to the charge transfer region so as to induce a resultant potential that is orthogonal to both the applied magnetic field and the predetermined direction. Furthermore, the resultant potential effects a lateral redistribution of charge carriers in the packet. A recirculation configuration allows for a recycling of the packet from the output region back to the input region in order to accommodate a continuation of the redistribution of charge carriers. Sense contacts are provided with the recirculation configuration for sensing the resultant potential as the output voltage.