A Hall Effect Sensor is a device that detects the presence of a magnetic field. It is named after its discoverer, Edwin Hall, who discovered the Hall effect in 1879. The Hall effect is the production of a voltage difference (known as the Hall voltage) across an electrical conductor, transverse to an electric current in the conductor and a magnetic field perpendicular to the current.
A Hall Effect Sensor consists of a thin rectangular piece of semiconductor material such as gallium arsenide or silicon, through which a small current flows. When a magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the current, the electrons in the material are deflected to one side of the conductor. This results in a measurable voltage difference between the two sides of the conductor, which is proportional to the strength of the magnetic field.
Hall Effect Sensors are used in a variety of applications, such as in automotive, aerospace, and medical devices, to measure and detect the presence, strength, and direction of magnetic fields. They are also used in current and position sensing applications, speed and RPM measurement, and for detecting the position of a gear tooth or a magnetic stripe on a credit card.
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