Spintronics: computation and memory technology using electron spin

A team of Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) researchers led by Han Suk-hee described the demonstration of a spin-injected field effect transistor, which is based on a semiconducting channel with two ferromagnetic electrodes.

The transistor's basic structure of source, gate and drain is similar to the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) model used for making microprocessors and other integrated circuits. However, Han's transistor is different in that the source and drain are made of ferromagnetic materials and that the injected spins are controlled by gate voltage.

Via iStockAnalyst

Researchers at North Carolina State University have received a three-year, $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Center for Chemical Innovation (NSF-CCI) to pursue research in the emerging field of molecular spintronics.

The grant will fund a center for molecular spintronics at NC State and support a research coalition between scientists at NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill with the aim of using this technology to develop smaller, faster, more energy-efficient electronic devices with increased storage capability.

Via NanoWerk

Researchers in the University of Washington say that they have been able to train tiny semiconductor crystals, called nanocrystals or quantum dots, to display new magnetic functions at room temperature using light as a trigger.

Silicon-based semiconductor chips incorporate tiny transistors that manipulate electrons based on their charges. Scientists also are working on ways to use electricity to manipulate the electrons' magnetism, referred to as "spin," but are still searching for the breakthrough that will allow "spintronics" to function at room temperature without losing large amounts of the capability they have at frigid temperatures.

QuantumWise A/S is announcing a new release of its software package for atomic-scale simulations of nanoscale electronic and spintronic devices, Atomistix ToolKit (ATK). This code is able to compute electronic structure and transport properties (e.g. I-V characteristics) of nanoscale structures such as nanotubes, graphene, molecular electronics devices, magnetic tunnel junctions and other magnetic system, interface structures, nanowires, etc.

NVE corporation reported their financial results for 1Q 2009. Total revenue increased to 7.83M$, and profit was 2.94$.

The main increase in revenue is due to a 22% increase in product sales and 311% increase in contract R&D revenue.

We're happy to announce a new addition to the Metalgrass site network: Graphene-Info. Graphene is a sheet, one-atom-thick of carbon atom, in a honeycomb crystal lattice. If you use many layers of graphene, stacked one on top of the other, you’ll get Graphite. Graphene has many uses - Spintronics, sensors, ICs (for example a transparent backplane for OLEDs), ultra-capacitors and more.

We hope you'll enjoy the new site...

UK researchers (from the University of Surrey and two more institutes) have been awared a 430,000GBP (around 700K$), 3-year grant to develop silicon structures for spintronic semiconductors. This is funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the National Science Foundation of China

The project could lead to cheaper and more sophisticated computer processing technologies.While silicon has not been the material of choice for spintronic research, the team says exploration of silicon based platforms is important due to the potential for exploiting an extremely pure material and the far cheaper and more sophisticated processing technologies available.
The project will focus on manipulating electron spins with laser beams will look to build a prototype device. 

Via NewElectronics

American Elements announced the further expansion of its bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) production facilities to meet growing demand for the semiconductor material in computer chip production. BiTe forms available include powder, pieces (also lump and chunk), plates, discs, and sputtering targets for thin film deposition.

Bismuth Telluride may increase the speed of microchips, and be the basis of spintronics. 

At full capacity, the new facility can deliver several metric tons monthly.

Via AZOMaterials

A team of Virginia Commonwealth University scientists has discovered a ‘magnetic superatom’ – a stable cluster of atoms that can mimic different elements of the periodic table – that one day may be used to create molecular electronic devices for the next generation of faster computers with larger memory storage.

The team examined the electronic and magnetic properties of clusters having one vanadium atom surrounded by multiple cesium atoms. They found that when the cluster had eight cesium atoms it acquired extra stability due to a filled electronic state. An atom is in a stable configuration when its outermost shell is full. Consequently, when an atom combines with other atoms, it tends to lose or gain valence electrons to acquire a stable configuration.

There's a free discussion meeting in London, UK, about Spintronics. It will take place at 28-29  September 2009, at The Royal Society, London. Here's what the organizers say:

Recent advances in generating, manipulating and detecting spin-polarized electrons promise entirely new classes of spin based sensor, memory and logic devices, generally referred to as the field of spintronics.

These advances are based on recent fundamental discoveries involving spin polarized current in novel nano-materials, including, giant tunnelling magnetoresistance, the spin Hall effect, and the excitation of magnetization via the transfer of spin angular momentum from spin polarized current.