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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 44, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2008

Optimization of 2DEG InAs/GaSb Hall Sensors for Single Particle Detection

Olga Kazakova1 , John C. Gallop1 , David C. Cox1 , Elisabetta Brown1 , Alexandre Cuenat1 , and Kyoichi Suzuki2
National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, Middlesex TW11 0LW, U.K. NTT Basic Research Laboratories, NTT Corporation, Kanagawa 243-0198, Japan
Magnetic sensors having high spatial and stray eld resolutions are key elements in many biomedical applications. One promising magnetic detector is a microsized Hall sensor. We present our rst results in realising a measurement system based on a Hall sensor made of an asymmetric 2DEG InAs/GaSb-based heterostructure. The work aims to investigate magnetotransport properties of such Hall sensors and optimize their performance. In particular, we focus on examining noise characteristics of the sensor as it allows us to determine and improve the device sensitivity. We show that in investigated devices a magnetic eld sensitivity of better than 0.5 T/Hz1 2 (corresponding to a magnetization detection threshold of 2 105 B /Hz1 2 ) should be readily achievable at room temperature and at a frequency of around 3 kHz. Index TermsHall coefcient, Hall sensor, InAs/GaSb heterostructures, noise measurements.

I. INTRODUCTION

AGNETIC sensors having high spatial and stray eld resolutions are key elements in many industrial applications. In particular, realization of highly responsive magnetic biosensors is required in such areas as drug delivery, hyperthermia treatment, magnetic resonance imaging, and cell separation [1]. One promising magnetic detector is a microor nanosized Hall sensor [2][4]. Due to their high magnetic and relatively high spatial sensitivity [5] such sensors, for example, incorporated with a magnetic tweezers setup, form a unique electronic detection system capable in recognition of single magnetic beads, which will allow rapid analysis of drug-motor interactions in real time, on single molecules and in a highly parallel manner. The potential of such a device within healthcare is extremely high. Here we present our rst results in realizing a measurement system based on an asymmetric 2DEG InAs/GaSb-based microscopic Hall sensors. The work aims to optimize fabrication and measurement performance of the sensor. In particular, we focus on examining its magnetotransport properties and noise characteristics as it allows us to determine and improve the device sensitivity. II. EXPERIMENT InAs (12 nm)/GaSb (18 nm) heterostructure sandwiched between AlGaSb layers was grown by molecular beam epitaxy on a semi-insulating GaAs (001) substrate [6]. A schematic of the sample structure is shown in Fig. 1(a). InAs/GaSb structures were widely investigated due to their unique electronic properties. In particular, in such heterostructures the conduction band in the InAs and the valence band in the GaSb layers overlap forming a quantum well. In general, such system demonstrates the electron (conned in InAs)hole (conned in GaSb) band

Fig. 1. (a) Scheme of the Hall sensor structure. (b) SEM image of a large (100 20 m ) Hall device with an attached single magnetic bead. The arrow marks the position of the bead. (c) SEM image of a FIB-modied Hall device with the effective size 5 5 m . One FIB track is emphasized by a dashed contour for visibility.

Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TMAG.2008.2003507 Color versions of one or more of the gures in this paper are available online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org

hybridization. It was shown that by changing the thickness of InAs and GaSb layers it is possible to control positions of the conductance and valence bands independently. Moreover, if the electron connement in the InAs layer is large enough, the hybridization between the conduction band in InAs and the valence band in GaSb can be untangled. Thus, the advantage of the used asymmetric InAs/GaSb system compared to more conventional 2DEG InAs heterostructures is in possibility to control the type and concentration of carriers. For the proposed biosensor applications, we have chosen the heterostructure showing the characteristics of a simple two-dimensional single carrier (electron) m and system with high mobility: m /Vs, as obtained from quantum Hall effect measurements [6]. Linear arrays each consisting of ve large Hall crosses (100 20 m ) connected in parallel were fabricated by optical lithography and wet chemical etching [Fig. 1(b)]. The good ohmic contacts were achieved using germanium layer on the electrical pads. Further reducing of dimensions of these crosses has been performed using direct trimming by focused ion beam (FIB) [Fig. 1(c)]. A FEI Nova Nanolab dual beam FIB with a beam current of 50 pA was used. Four rectangular frames were milled through the device layer, reducing the crosses down to 5 5 m . The instrument is also equipped with a four-probe

0018-9464/$25.00 2008 IEEE

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Zyvex nano-manipulation system capable of 3-axis movement, with a 10-nm minimum step size, and 7 mm of total travel. In this work, we used commercially available microbeads and m (Dynabeads with the diameter of M-270 and MyOne). Each bead contains a large number of nanometer size ferrite particles embedded into a polymer matrix. The whole bead is covered by a monolayer of streptavidin potentially providing a strong attachment to biotin labeled biomolecules. Individual beads were positioned in the center of the Hall cross using the nanomanipulator. Sharpened carbon bers were used to pick-and-place individual microbeads using electron beam deposited W(CO) to hold the beads in place. The beads initially dispersed on a mother substrate were individually picked and placed on the device substrate. Fig. 1(b) shows an individual bead positioned on the 1st cross. Six and eleven beads were placed on the 3rd and 5th crosses, respectively, with the 2nd and 4th crosses were left empty for reference measurements. Electrical noise measurements were performed within a dycast box in a standard four-terminal setup. The device was biased by a battery powered dc current source and the transverse voltage taps were directly connected to the input of a low frequency FFT spectrum analyzer (Stanford Research model 770). III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS In our experiments we have performed a complete set of transport and magnetotransport measurements of about 20 devices at room temperature. In all measurements the Hall sensors were biased by a constant dc current supplied by a k set of batteries. The best-achieved resistance is and k for 100 20 m and 5 5 m 2DEG complete devices, respectively. In large crosses the Hall voltage A, was measured at different bias currents, as a function of the magnetic eld applied perpendicular to the sample plane (Fig. 2 main panel). No sign of saturation T. have been observed in InAs/GaSb devices up to However, a small degree of nonlinearity has been measured at A, probably demonstrating the high bias currents, beginning of thermal heating or electron velocity saturation. , is about V/AT The current sensitivity, for 100 20 m InAs/GaSb devices. This corresponds to the m/T, Hall coefcients taking into account that the InAs electron layer has a 12-nm thickness (Fig. 2, top inset). The Hall coefcient decreases slightly with current, i.e., by less then 3% at the largest current, A, demonstrating a very good stability of the Hall sensors. , All devices display a signicant offset voltage at which is predominantly proportional to the device bias current. This indicates a degree of nonorthogonality between the voltage line and the direction of the current ow through devices. In addition very small offsets (a few V) arise even at zero bias current, presumably due to thermoelectric effects. Both Hall and offset voltages are linearly dependent on the bias current proving a good ohmic contact between the metal electrodes and the Hall cross material. Additionally all sensors demonstrate a , at , which weakly depends on the bias eld offset,

Fig. 2. Hall voltage vs applied magnetic eld for InAs/GaSb Hall sensors (100 20 m ). Top inset: Current dependence of the Hall resistance. Bottom inset: Current dependence of the offset eld.

Fig. 3. Spectral density of the voltage noise in InAs/GaSb Hall sensors (100 20 m ) for different bias currents, I = 0500 A. Inset shows spectral noise density vs. bias current at 107 Hz and 3.7 kHz at room temperature for the same Hall sensor.

current and in some devices can reach a signicant value up to mT (see bottom inset in Fig. 2). Further we investigated the room-temperature noise in InAs/ GaSb Hall sensors in the frequency range 1 Hz13.0 kHz. In like general, for all bias currents the 2DEG devices exhibit a spectrum at low frequencies and a white noise region at higher frequencies (Fig. 3). We calculate that for zero bias current the average spectral density of the voltage noise is V/Hz at kHz, which is only twice larger than the expected Nyquist noise for the voltage lead source resistance and white noise at room temperature. Both the observed values increase with the bias current, although the latter has voltage noise shows a a less strong current dependence. clear linear dependence on bias current at all frequencies measured although the slope of this linear dependence reduces as the frequency increases (see insets for frequencies of 107 Hz and 3.7 kHz in Fig. 3).

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and a corresponding voltage drop along the length of the Hall cross, various authors [9][12] have shown that a similar transverse voltage noise spectral expression describes the density

(1) where is the noise (or Hooges) parameter, is the longitudinal electric eld, is the width and the thickness of the Hall cross, is the carrier density. The functional form of (1), being the same as for the experimental data, allows us to derive a value for for these particular 2DEG devices, provided the dimensions are known and can be estimated. The latter may be found experimentally by measuring the value of the four-terobtained using the usual current bias leads minal resistance and voltage terminals on adjacent crosses. Then for a bias curis simply rent the expression for

Fig. 4. Spectral density of the voltage noise in InAs/GaSb Hall sensors with A. sizes 100 20 m and 5 5 m for the same bias current, I

= 100

To detect the presence of a small magnetized object such as a bead it is not only necessary to maximize the magnetic eld sensitivity of the device but it is also important to maximize the magnetic coupling between the bead and the Hall cross. This is best done by making the Hall cross dimensions as small as possible, compatible with the condition that the cross is not much smaller than the bead. With this in mind, we have continued to develop the 2DEG Hall cross capability by reducing the dimensions to determine whether this will improve the bead detection. A focused ion beam has been used to mill straight channels in a 2DEG cross, so that different values of a cross width, , and length, , may be produced. To date two new geometries have m and m. been tested: The Hall crosses of reduced size (5 5 m ) show an increase in noise by a factor of for the same bias current (in line with the predictions of the model outlined below) suggesting that FIB milling does not drastically damage the quality of the 2DEG material (Fig. 4). This noise increase does not necessarily rule out size reduction as an effective approach to nanomagnetic particle detection since the increased noise and reduced Hall response may be offset by stronger coupling between a nanoparticle and reduced dimension Hall cross. IV. DISCUSSION Despite a rather large literature on icker (or ) noise in conductors, at present there is no full understanding of the physics underlying the phenomenon. The much repeated observation that for many conductors, from metals through semiconductors, the power spectral density of noise grows as the frequency falls, with a power law dependence approxi. The similar effect is also observed for mately given by the transverse voltage noise in the 2DEG Hall crosses reported here. The best theory for semiconductors, which presently exists, is probably that due to Hooge [7] who suggests the noise lies in mobility uctuations arising from origin of the comscattering of 2D phonons. Chen et al. [8] nd that the ponent of the noise spectrum is strongly temperature dependent and also can be affected by illumination of the 2DEG. Other authors have extended his discussion to transverse voltage noise as observed in Hall crosses [9], [10]. For measurement of in the presence of a current the transverse voltage noise

(2) where is the total length of the current carrying strip, along is measured. Fitting (1) to the data in which the resistance , conFig. 3 gives a best-t value for the constant reported in the literature siderably larger than the values for typical metals. When exposed to a d.c. magnetic eld in a direction perunder pendicular to the 2DEG, the measured Hall voltage is given by an expression which also involves current bias the parameter , where is the mobility of the sample

(3) The experimental estimate for also permits us to measure the mobility which becomes 4.0 m /Vs, quite close to the value m /Vs reported in the original reference [6]. of Since the ultimate aim of developing these Hall crosses is to detect the presence of small magnetic beads, it is important to optimize the sensitivity of the Hall crosses to changes in magnetic eld such as would arise from the close proximity of a noise at low frequencies magnetic bead. The dominance of implies that measurements should be carried out at as high a frequency as possible. This may be done by applying a small a.c. modulation eld at frequency and then detecting the coherent transverse voltage change synchronously with a lock-in amplier. In order to calculate the minimum detectable magnetic eld which these Hall crosses permit, we will assume change that this is achieved when the ratio of the Hall voltage signal to noise is unity. By using this condition and combining the (1) and (2) we obtain an expression for

(4) voltage noise inIt is interesting to note that, since the creases linearly with (as shown in the inset to Fig. 3), as

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does the Hall signal , there is nothing to be gained in terms from increasing . But may be miniof minimizing mized by increasing as much as possible, at least until the crossover frequency where noise becomes comparable with the white noise level. For our as-fabricated 2DEG devices this kHz, depending on the bias current. At a reloccurs above atively easily achieved modulation frequency of around 3 kHz is better than 0.5 T/Hz . the estimated value of To estimate the minimum magnetic moment which such a Hall sensor may detect, for a bead much smaller than the Hall cross dimensions, it is necessary to model the Hall voltage . For a produced by an inhomogeneous magnetic eld magnetic eld component in the direction and current ow in only in the direction, there is an electric eld component the direction. At any point within the Hall cross the transverse is given by electric eld

which corresponds, for example, to a single magnetic bead of i) pure Co with diameter of 50 nm or ii) paramagnetic ferrite (Fe O , Fe O ) with diameter of 2 m. V. CONCLUSION We have shown that a magnetic eld sensitivity of better (corresponding to a magnetization detection than 0.5 T/Hz /Hz ) should be achievable for large threshold of Hall devices at room temperature and at a frequency of around 3 kHz. Following FIB milling, the Hall crosses of reduced size noise (in line with the predictions show an increase in of the model outlined above) suggesting that trimming does not drastically damage the quality of the 2DEG material. This noise increase does not necessarily rule out size reduction as an effective approach to nanomagnetic particle detection since the increased noise and reduced Hall response are expected to be offset by stronger coupling between a nanoparticle and reduced dimension Hall cross. Thus, our results imply that the InAs/GaSb Hall devices are capable of detecting a single magnetic bead, for example, of pure Co with diameter as low as 50 nm. REFERENCES
[1] Q. A. Pankhurst, J. Connoly, S. K. Jones, and J. Dobson, J. Phys. D, vol. 36, p. R167, 2003. [2] P.-A. Besse, G. Boero, M. Demierre, V. Pott, and R. Popovic, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 80, p. 4199, 2002. [3] G. Mihajlovic, P. Xiong, S. von Molnr, K. Ohtani, H. Ohno, M. Field, and G. J. Sullivan, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 87, p. 112502, 2005. , P. Xiong, S. von Molnr, M. Field, and G. J. Sullivan, [4] G. Mihajlovic J. Appl. Phys., vol. 102, p. 034506, 2007. [5] O. Kazakova, G. Perkins, J. Gallop, and L. Cohen, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 90, p. 162502, 2007. [6] K. Suzuki, S. Miyashita, and Y. Hirayama, Phys. Rev. B, vol. 67, p. 195319, 2003. [7] F. N. Hooge, Phys. Lett. A, vol. 29, p. 139, 1969. [8] X. Y. Chen, P. M. Koenraad, F. N. Hooge, J. H. Wolter, and V. Aninkevicius, Phys. Rev. B, vol. 55, p. 5290, 1997. [9] T. G. M. Kleinpenning, J. Appl. Phys., vol. 48, p. 2946, 1977. [10] L. K. J. Vandamme and W. M. C. van Bokhoven, Appl. Phys., vol. 14, p. 205, 1977. [11] N. Kotera, J. Shigeta, T. Oi, M. Nakashima, and K. Sato, J. Appl. Phys., vol. 49, p. 5990, 1978. [12] T. G. M. Kleinpenning and L. K. J. Vandamme, J. Appl. Phys., vol. 50, p. 5547, 1979.

and we will assume that , the current density is constant, with is the mean only a nonzero component. The Hall voltage , averaged over the current carrying region of

(5)

Assuming the beads magnetic moment, dipolar eld

, gives rise to a

where , and is the stand-off distance between the bead center and the surface of the Hall cross where is the bead radius. This expression may be inserted into (5) and numerically integrated to discover how the Hall voltage . Equating the minimum voltage for a small bead scales with noise with the Hall voltage allows the minimum detectable value to be estimated. For the as-fabricated 2DEG cross the of predicted minimum value is around /Hz ,

Manuscript received March 03, 2008. Current version published December 17, 2008. Corresponding author: O. Kazakova (e-mail: olga.kazakova@npl.co. uk).