Appendix C

Glossary of Common Terms

Active Area – The surface of a Hall-effect sensor or transducer that is sensitive to magnetic field. For many integrated Hall ICs, the active area is beneath the package surface by a short distance (∼0.020″ or 0.5 mm), and may only be a few thousandths of an inch square (∼0.1 mm × 0.1 mm).

Air Gap – The distance from the face of a magnet to the face of a sensor housing.

Alnico – A permanent magnet material made primarily from aluminum, nickel, and cobalt. Alnico magnets have relatively low energy products, but offer high stability, especially over temperature.

Ampere – MKS unit of electrical current. Equivalent to the passage of ≈ 6 × 1018 electrons (or other unit charge carriers) per second.

Ampere-turn ...

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