Editing Hall effect sensor (section)

== Characteristics ==

=== Directionality ===
Hall elements measure only the sensing axis component of the magnetic field vector. Because that axial component may be positive or negative, some Hall sensors can sense the binary direction of the axial component in addition to its magnitude. An additional perpendicularly-oriented Hall element (e.g. in {{Slink|Hall effect sensor|Dual Hall sensor ICs|nopage=y}}) must be incorporated to determine a 2-D direction, and another perpendicularly-oriented Hall element must be added to detect the full 3-D components of the magnetic field vector.

=== Solid state ===
Because Hall sensor ICs are [[Solid-state electronics|solid-state devices]], they are not prone to mechanical wear. Thus, they can operate at much higher speeds than mechanical sensors, and their lifespan is not limited by mechanical failure (unlike [[potentiometers]], [[electromechanical]] [[Reed switch|reed switches]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Staff Writer |title=How to Decide Between a Reed Switch or a Hall Switch |url=https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/how-to-decide-between-a-reed-switch-or-a-hall-switch/ |website=I.I. Thomas |date=27 January 2019 |access-date=20 April 2021}}</ref> [[relays]], or other mechanical [[switches]] and sensors). However, Hall sensors can be prone to thermal drift due to changes in environmental conditions and to time drift over the lifetime of the sensor.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hertz |first1=Jake |title=Engineers Deal With Drift in Many Ways. What About a "Zero Drift" Hall-Effect Current Sensor? |url=https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/news/engineers-deal-with-drift-many-ways-zero-drift-hall-effect-current-sensor/ |website=All About Circuits |access-date=20 April 2021}}</ref>

Hall effect devices (when appropriately packaged) are immune to dust, dirt, mud, and water. These characteristics make Hall effect devices better for position sensing than alternative means such as optical and electromechanical sensing.

=== Bandwidth ===
The bandwidth of practical Hall sensors is limited to the hundreds of [[kilohertz]], with commercial [[silicon]] ones commonly limited to 10–100 kHz. {{As of|2016}}, the fastest Hall sensor available in the market has a bandwidth of 1 MHz but uses non-standard semiconductors.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Crescentini |first=M. |date=2016-09-07 |title=Experimental Characterization of Bandwidth Limits in Hall Sensors |url=https://www.imeko.org/publications/tc4-2016/IMEKO-TC4-2016-01.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231230033926/https://www.imeko.org/publications/tc4-2016/IMEKO-TC4-2016-01.pdf |archive-date=2023-12-30 |access-date=2023-12-30}}</ref>

=== Susceptibility to external fields ===
Magnetic flux from the surroundings (such as other wires) may diminish or enhance the field the Hall probe intends to detect, rendering the results inaccurate. Hall sensors can detect stray magnetic fields easily, including that of Earth, so they work well as electronic compasses: but this also means that such stray fields can hinder accurate measurements of small magnetic fields. To solve this problem, Hall sensors are often integrated with magnetic shielding of some kind.

Mechanical positions within an electromagnetic system can instead be measured without the Hall effect using [[optical]] position encoders (e.g., absolute and [[Incremental encoder|incremental encoders]]) and [[Faraday's law of induction|induced voltage]] by moving the amount of metalcore inserted into a [[transformer]]. When Hall is compared to photo-sensitive methods, it is harder to get an absolute position with Hall.

==== Differential Hall sensors ====
While a single Hall element is susceptible to external magnetic fields, a differential configuration of two Hall elements can cancel stray fields out from measurements,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Palvik |first=Scott |date=2019-08-27 |title=Differential Hall-Effect Sensors: Safer and More Reliable for Two-Wheelers of the Future |url=https://www.allegromicro.com/en/insights-and-innovations/technical-documents/hall-effect-sensor-ic-publications/an296173-differential-hall-effect-sensors |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231230032307/https://www.allegromicro.com/en/insights-and-innovations/technical-documents/hall-effect-sensor-ic-publications/an296173-differential-hall-effect-sensorsor-ic-publications/an296173-differential-hall-effect-sensors |archive-date=2023-12-30 |access-date=2023-12-30 |website=www.allegromicro.com}}</ref> analogous to how common mode voltage signals are canceled using [[differential signaling]].