The best way to understand the advantage of a 2D dual latch hall sensor is to compare its behavior with others solutions used in the market. The two most common methods are: dual planar hall latch sensors or two single hall latch sensors. Those methods are used in applications such as rotary encoding or speed and direction sensing. The principle is to set two sensors apart at a certain angle such that they will sense the same magnetic field but with a fixed phase difference. The frequency of the signal will give the speed or incremental information while the phase will give the direction of rotation. For an easy read, the signals should be as close to a quadrature signal as possible, meaning there is a 90° phase shift between the two signals. To create those two signals in quadrature, the two latches must be placed at a distance of ½ pole + n pole from one another.

The TMAG511x can be used instead of a dual planar hall latch or two single hall latch sensors. The TMAG511x has two integrated hall latch sensors spaced at a 90° angle from each other, which allows each sensor to detect a quadrature component of the same magnetic field. For A, B, and C device variants, the magnetic direction detected will be XY, ZX, and ZY, respectively. Each of those components are placed at 90° from each other by design, therefore the output signals will also be separated with the same angle value. Wherever the sensor is placed to catch the right two components of the field, the output will be in quadrature from one another. Figure 8-1 shows the result of two different type of sensors when the devices are placed close to a ring magnet.