A modified hybrid Hall effect device is provided which is the combination of a
conventional Hall effect device and a second Hall effect device having a Hall plate
coupled to a ferromagnetic layer. The hybrid Hall effect device can be used to
determine the independent magnetic field vector components comprising a vector
magnetic field, such as for determining the {circumflex over (x)} and the {circumflex
over (z)} components of a magnetic field, or for measuring the total magnitude
of a vector magnetic field of any orientation. The modified Hall Effect device
can be adapted for use as a magnetic field sensor for the detection of macroscopic
objects that have associated magnetic fields, or for microscopic objects that have
been tagged by microscopic magnetic particles. In one specific form, a plurality
of hybrid Hall devices are electrically connected together to form an array in
which a plurality of rows of hybrid Hall devices are electrically coupled to each
other along a current axis, and the array is used for the detection of microscopic objects.
