The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 06, 1996
Filed:
Aug. 03, 1994
Zhijian Li, Beijing, CN;
Xinyu Zheng, Beijing, CN;
Litian Liu, Beijing, CN;
Dongsheng Zhang, Beijing, CN;
United Microelectronics Corp., Hsinchu City, TW;
Abstract
A magnetic-field sensor has an array of split-drain transistors connected in parallel, each having a first, a second, and a third drain electrode, and a negative reference current generating transistor. A biasing circuit is utilized to bias the split-drain transistors in the saturated state, and to actuate the negative reference current generating transistor to generate a negative reference current. A first, a second, and a third current mirror are all controlled by a reference voltage. The second current mirror is coupled to the second drain electrode of each of the split-drain transistors to keep the reference voltage at a reference level. The first current mirror is coupled to the first drain electrode of each of the split-drain transistors to generate a first sensed current, and the third current mirror is coupled to the third drain electrode of each of the split-drain transistors to generate a second sensed current. A positive reference current generating transistor is controlled by the reference voltage to generate a positive reference current. The first and second sensed currents, and the negative and positive reference currents can be utilized to indicate the strength of the magnetic field.