Spintronics: computation and memory technology using electron spin

University of Utah physicists successfully controlled an electrical current using the "spin" within electrons – a step toward building an organic "spin transistor": a plastic semiconductor switch for future ultrafast computers and electronics.

In the new study, the researchers showed that information can be carried by spins in an organic polymer, and that a spin transistor is possible because "we can convert the spin information into a current, and manipulate it and change it," says Lupton. "We are manipulating this information and reading it out again. We are writing it and reading it."

Boehme says spin transistors and other spin electronics could make possible much smaller computer chips, and computers that are orders of magnitude faster than today's. 

This year’s fifth annual International Wafer-Level Packaging Conference (IWLPC), October 13-16, 2008 will be the largest ever, according to Dr. Ken Gilleo, IWLPC general chair.

“Exhibitor and attendee interest has been very high, and we anticipate this year’s event will be the largest, as well as the most comprehensive, in our history,” Dr. Gilleo said. With two months to go, the 60-table exhibitor space at our Wyndham Hotel venue is nearly fully occupied.

We're always looking for ways to make Spintronics news and resources more easily accessible. We now have two new exciting tools - a toolbar and a widget.

Researchers have developed a new method of studying tiny magnets that could yield high-density memory based on the emerging field of spintronics.

By implanting tiny “ferromagnets” onto processor chips, researchers expect to create small electronic devices and computers that never need to boot up. Ferromagnets are magnets made of ferrous metal such as iron, and are used in common items such as refrigerator magnets.

According to experimental physicist Chris Hammel, ferromagnets are central to incorporating memory directly into the basic logic elements at the heart of a computer.

Read more here (ITNews)

Eventually the team at Harvard and Hamamatsu Photonics (Hamamatsu City, Japan) hope to demonstrate electrically-controlled polarization of laser beams for use in spintronics and quantum computing.

I'm happy to announce that we upgraded our infrastructure from Drupal 4.7.4 to Drupal 5.8. As a reader you will not find many differences, but hopefully it will prove a more stable, safe and quick system.

If you do find any bugs or glitches, please let us know...

"Product sales drove strong profits,'' said NVE President and Chief Executive Officer Daniel A. Baker, Ph.D. "Gross margin was 71% of revenue, operating margin 52%, pretax margin 58%, and net margin 39%.''

Scientists funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research have used a single photon technique to observe the evolution of individual electron spins in semiconductor nanostructures.

Dr. David Awschalom, professor of physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is coordinating the research. He and his team are exploring the benefits of electronic devices using spintronics to power quantum computers made of diamond.

"This technology may allow the Air Force to reduce electronic power consumption by creating low-power electronic devices capable of massive improvements in processing speeds, and increasing storage densities by orders of magnitude" Doctor Awschalom said.

IBM and the ETH Zürich University have agreed to jointly build a laboratory for nanotechnology research. The research activities aim at technologies for the post-CMOS era such as carbon-based materials, nano photonics, spintronics, nanowires and tribology.

The lab will have a 90$ million investment. About one third will go to purchase equipment. The work will begin in Spring 2009, and the activities will start in 2011, and planned to last at least 10 years.

Read more here (EETimes) 

The researchers were experimenting with ferromagnet/semiconductor (FM/SC) structures, which are key building blocks for semiconductor spintronic devices (microelectronic devices that perform logic operations using the spin of electrons). The FM/SC structure is sandwich-like in appearance, with the ferromagnet and semiconductor serving as microscopically thin slices between which lies a thinner still insulator made of a few atomic layers of magnesium oxide (MgO).