Spintronics-Info: the spintronics experts

Researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have developed a new method to apply graphene as an active spintronic component for generating, controlling, and detecting spin current without ferromagnetic electrodes or magnetic fields.

The KAIST researchers observed highly efficient charge-to-spin interconversion via the gate-tunable Rashba-Edelstien effect (REE) in graphene heterostructures. The researchers used graphene stacked on top of a large spin-orbit coupling transition metal dichalcogenide material (2H-TaS₂).

Researchers from the University of Arizona discovered that in common Magnetic Tunnel Junctions (MTJ), there's a thin (2D) layer of Iron Oxide. This layer was found to act as a contaminant which lowers the performance achieved by MTJs.

This Iron Oxide layer, however, can also be seen as a blessing - the researchers discovered that the layer behaves as a so-called antiferromagnet at extremely cold temperatures (below -245 degrees Celsius). Antiferromagnets are promising as these can be manipulated at Terahertz frequencies, about 1,000 times faster than existing, silicon-based technology. This is the first research that shows how Antiferromagnets can be controlled as part of MTJs.

Researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark received a EUR 4.4 million grant from the EU FET to develop novel spintronics-based AI hardware. The researcher say that their suggested design can end up having 100,000 times the performance of the state-of-the-art AI systems of today.

The project, called SpinAge, will revolve around a neuromorphic computer system (NCS) design that is unique, scalable and highly energy efficient (the researchers estimate that the new design will be more efficient than current designs by at least a factor of 100). The synaptic neurons in this system will be based on spintronics technology.

Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have identified a promising spintronics candidate material - few-layer thin semimetal molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe₂).

Semimetals feature material properties that are between metals and semiconductors. The researchers found that an extremely thin (few-layers, almost 2D) MoTe₂ features an intrinsic Spin Hall Effect (SHE).

Dr. Wei Zhang, an assistant professor of physics at Oakland University, has earned the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program Award and a $500,000 grant over five years to study quantum spintronics.

Quantum spintronics, a relatively new field, studies how a material’s quantum properties (either natural or engineered) could be used to advance future spintronics devices. The grant funding will help facilitate the development of new quantum spintronic laboratory modules at the university, as well as outreach and education activities.

Researchers from the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) developed a new MRAM cell structure that relies on unidirectional spin Hall magnetoresistance (USMR). The new cell structure is reportedly very simple with only two layers which could lead to lower-cost MRAM devices.

The spin Hall effect leads to the accumulation of electrons with a certain spin on the lateral sides of a material. By combining a topological insulator with a ferromagnetic semiconductor, the researchers managed to create a device with giant USMR.

As 2019 is coming to an end, it is nice to take a look at the year that passed with its interesting spintronics related research activities and advances.

Here are the top 10 stories posted on Spintronics-Info in 2019, ranked by popularity (i.e. how many people read the story):

1. EU researchers fabricated graphene-based spintronics devices that utilize both electron charge and spin at room temperature (Jan 16)
2. Researchers announce a breakthrough in pinning domain wall propagation (Feb 28)
3. Researchers report on electric field controlled motion in Skyrmions (Mar 15)
4. Researchers develop a way to inject an ultra-fast pulse of spin current (Jan 22)
5. UTSA researchers use reduced graphene oxide to develop efficient spintronics interconnects (Apr 6)
6. Researchers develop a 200Mhz spintronics-based microcontroller unit (Feb 26)
7. HZB researchers managed to switch superferromagnetism with electric-field induced strain (Feb 17)
8. Researchers develop a new technique for ultra-fast teraherz spintronics switching (Mar 12)
9. Optically-assisted MRAM could be a thousand time more efficient then current MRAM devices (May 20)
10. Quantum Well structures can enhance the TMR of MTJs (Sep 25)