The influence of transverse magnetoresistance on Hall-effect measurements on n-type germanium and other semiconductors

Abstract

The conditions under which magnetic field reversal and voltage averaging can be used to eliminate the contributions of transverse magnetoresistance to Hall voltage measurements have been generalized. The conditions are shown to be satisfied for three specific orientations of the magnetic field to the crystallographic axes of n‐type germanium. In general, the conditions are demonstrated to be met in any crystal material with a cubic structure if the magnetic field is applied in a direction parallel to a crystallographic axis of threefold or fourfold rotational symmetry. At sufficiently high fields it is shown that magnetoresistance contributions can be made negligibly small regardless of the B‐field orientation to the sample’s crystal structure. Experimental data on n‐type germanium at 77 °K verifies the validity of the theory by demonstrating that magnetoresistance contributions are cancelled by averaging when the magnetic field is parallel to a highest‐symmetry 〈100〉 crystal axis direction as well as parallel to a lower‐symmetry 〈110〉 direction.