TMAG5124-Q1: Sensor Failure

Bhagyashree,

1. In the event of damage to the sensor there are a few possibilities.  When electrically induced damage occurs, it is often manifest in either an electrical open or short inside of the device between VCC and some other net (such as GND).  This may be the result of excessive ESD or improperly applied voltage on VCC.  In these cases you would expect to see a dramatic decrease or increase in supply current.  If for some reason the Hall-effect element inside the device were damaged, but the rest of the device remained active, it is most likely that you would only observe the idle current of the device.  The supply current is controlled and if no switch signal is applied then ICC would remain idle.

2.In the event of PCB damage, you should see behavior similar to the ESD event on the device.  Since TMAG5124 operates with only VCC and GND, PCB damage would result in the device not operating.  An Open on either VCC or GND results with an open circuit for TMAG5124 and no current path.  A short between VCC and GND would collapse Vcc and cause damage to power circuits and/or the affected PCB traces.

3.A Harness cut would in effect appear similar to PCB damage.  An additional possibility is a short between VCC and a higher voltage net.  In the event that this exceeds the ABS max for TMAG5124, then this could cause damage to the device similar to what I described in (1).

Thanks,

Scott