Hall Effect

Hall Effect When a piece of metal or semiconductor is placed in magnetic field,

acting Perpendicular to the direction of current Then a potential difference or electric
field is developed in the direction perpendicular both magnetic field and current.
This phenomenon is called Hall Effect
Definition: When a piece of metal or semiconductor is placed in magnetic field,
more precisely in transverse magnetic field, and direct current is allowed to pass
through it, then the electric field gets developed across the edges of metal or
semiconductor specimen. This phenomenon is called Hall Effect.

Explanation of Hall Effect

Consider a piece of metal is placed in magnetic field. And the magnetic field is
perpendicular to the metal or semiconductor specimen. Now, direct current is passed
through the metal or semiconductor specimen in such a way that direction of flow
of current is along the positive direction of X-axis. The magnetic field is applied in
such a way that magnetic field acts along the positive direction of Z-axis. According
to co-ordinate geometry, X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis are perpendicular to each other.
Thus, the current carrying path is perpendicular to the path along which magnetic
field is acting.

The magnetic field is acting along positive Z-direction thus North Pole can be
considered upward to the metal slab and South Pole can be considered downward to
the metal slab. Therefore, when current starts flowing in a metal slab the charge
carriers will experience force exerted by magnetic field.
The charge carriers which are flowing along the positive direction of X-axis will be
pushed downwards due to magnetic force. In N-type semiconductor the major
current carrying component is electron, thus these electrons will be pushed
downwards. In the diagram illustrating Hall’s Effect it is quite evident that the
bottom surface is numbered 1 and upper surface is numbered 2.

Thus, in N-type semiconductor when the semiconductor slab is placed in magnetic

field the bottom surface of the semiconductor becomes more negative with respect
to top surface i.e. surface 1 will be negative with respect to surface 2.

In case of P-type semiconductor the bottom surface will be more positive with
respect to top surface i.e. the surface 1 will be more positive with respect to surface
2. This accumulation of charge carriers will create electric field. Thus, electric field
will be perpendicular to both, the direction in which magnetic field is acting and the
direction in which current is flowing.

Mathematical Expression of Hall Effect

In the state of equilibrium the electric force exerted on charge carriers due to the
electric field generated due to Hall’s Effect, will balance the magnetic force
exerted on charge carriers due to magnetic field.
 𝐹𝑚 = 𝐹𝑒

𝑞𝐵𝑉𝑑 = 𝑞𝐸𝐻

𝐵𝑉𝑑 = 𝐸𝐻

𝐸𝐻 = 𝐵𝑉𝑑 ----------------------------------- (1)

𝑉𝑑 is Drift Velocity and 𝐸𝐻 is Hall Electric Field

𝐸𝐻
𝑉𝑑 = − − − − − − − − − (2)
𝐵
Now Hall Potential Difference (𝑉𝐻 )
𝑉𝐻
𝐸𝐻 =
𝑑
𝑉𝐻 = 𝑑𝐸𝐻
But from equation (1) 𝐸𝐻 = 𝐵𝑉𝑑
𝑉𝐻 = 𝐵𝑑𝑉𝑑 − − − − − − − − − (3)
Where 𝑉𝐻 𝑖𝑠 𝐻𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒
Now Calculate the Drift velocity
𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑙
𝑉𝑑 = = ---------------------- (4)
𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡
𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑞
Current (I) = =
𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡
𝑞
𝐼=
𝑡
𝑞
𝑡= ------------------------------ (5)
𝐼

Volume Charge Density

𝑞 𝑞
𝜌= =
𝑉 𝑤𝑑𝑙
 𝑞
𝑙= --------------------------------- (6)
𝜌𝑤𝑑

Putting Eq. (5) Eq. (6) in Eq. (4)

𝑞 𝐼
𝑉𝑑 = ×
𝜌𝑤𝑑 𝑞

𝐼
𝑉𝑑 = --------------------------------------- (7)
𝜌𝑤𝑑

Putting Eq. (7) in Eq. (3)

𝑉𝐻 = 𝐵𝑑𝑉𝑑
𝐼𝐵𝑑
𝑉𝐻 =
𝜌𝑤𝑑
𝐵𝐼
𝑉𝐻 = ------------------------------------------ (8)
𝜌𝑤
Therefore, the value of charge density can be determined if we know the values of
B, I , VH and w.
Hall Co-efficient: The hall coefficient can be defined as the Hall’s field per unit
current density per unit magnetic field. Mathematically it can be given as:-
𝐸𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐 𝐹𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑 𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝐻𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡
𝑅𝐻 =
𝐶𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 × 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑
𝐸𝐻
𝑅𝐻 = --------------------------------(9)
𝐽×𝐵

𝐼 𝐼
But 𝐽 = =
𝐴 𝑤𝑑

𝑉𝐻
𝐸𝐻 =
𝑑
Putting J and 𝐸𝐻 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝐸𝑞 (9)
𝐸𝐻 𝑉𝐻 𝑉𝐻 𝑤𝑑 𝑉𝐻 𝑤
𝑅𝐻 = = = =
(𝐽 × 𝐵)𝑑 𝐽𝐵𝑑 𝐼𝐵𝑑 𝐼𝐵
𝐵𝐼
From Eq (8) 𝑉𝐻 =
𝜌𝑤
 𝐵𝐼 𝑤
𝑅𝐻 = ×
𝜌𝑤 𝐼𝐵
1 1
𝑅𝐻 = = ----------------------------- (10)
𝜌 𝑛𝑒

Again
𝑉𝐻 1
𝑅𝐻 = = 𝑉𝐻 ×
𝐽𝐵𝑑 𝐽𝐵𝑑
𝐼 𝐼
But 𝐽 = =
𝐴 𝑤𝑑
𝑉𝐻 𝑑𝑤
𝑅𝐻 =
𝐼𝐵𝑑
𝑤
𝑅𝐻 = 𝑉𝐻 × --------------------------- (11)
𝐼𝐵

This is the Hall Coefficient (𝑅𝐻 )

Hall Effect numerical

Q. 1 A strip of metal has a width of 1.0 cm and a thickness of 1.0 mm the strip is
placed in a uniform magnetic field of 2.0 Tesla. The Hall e.m.f is measured to be 1.7
× 10−6 Volts. Calculate the electric field as a result of Hall Effect, Calculate the
magnitude of electric force on electron as a result of EH and Calculate drift Velocity
of electron
Answer
(a) Here Hall e.m.f = 1.7 × 10−6 Volts
Magnetic field = 2.0 Tesla
𝑉𝐻 1.7×10−6 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑠
EH= = = 1.7 × 10−4 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑠/𝑚
𝑑 0.01𝑚

Hall Electric Field (EH )= 1.7 × 10−4 V/m

(b) Calculate the magnitude of electric force on electron as a result of EH
Electric force Fe = qE = (1.6 × 10−19 C) × (1.7 × 10−4 V/m) = 2.72 × 10−23 N
 𝐸𝐻 1.7×10−4 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑠/𝑚
(c) Vd= = = 8.5 × 10−5 𝑚/𝑠
𝐵 2.0𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑙𝑎