Researchers from at Southern University of Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University and other institutes recently reported a spintronic compute-in-memory (CIM) macro designed to improve computational efficiency in artificial intelligence hardware. The device is a 64-kb non-volatile digital CIM macro fabricated using 40-nm spin-transfer torque magnetic random-access memory (STT-MRAM) technology, which stores information through the magnetic orientation of nanometer-scale layers.

Conventional computing architectures separate memory and processing units, requiring frequent data transfer that increases latency and energy consumption. CIM designs address this limitation by integrating storage and computation, though most prior implementations have relied on analog operations that constrain accuracy, scalability, and robustness. The newly developed digital CIM architecture addresses these limitations by combining the endurance and non-volatility of STT-MRAM with digitally controlled computation.

Researchers from the Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2), CSIC and BIST have reported a theoretical framework and numerical confirmation for fully efficient spin-charge interconversion in graphene. Efficient conversion of charge current into spin current is a central objective in spintronics, and the intrinsic properties of graphene make it an attractive platform to explore this phenomenon.

Joaquín Medina Dueñas, Santiago Giménez de Castro, Jose H. Garcia, and Stephan Roche from ICN2 demonstrate that a complete conversion can be achieved by controlling the coupling between spin and pseudospin degrees of freedom. The study shows that a combined spin-pseudospin operator remains conserved in graphene, enabling fully efficient spin-charge conversion through the Rashba-Edelstein effect. The results also reveal the presence of a spin Hall effect that is resilient to disorder, indicating a stable mechanism for spin transport in realistic graphene systems.

Here are some recent and popular spintronics industry and research news that you may find of interest:

• AI framework accelerates discovery of antiferromagnets for next‑gen spintronics
• Wrinkles in 2D materials could enable efficient spintronic devices
• Breakthrough method uncovers hidden magnetic signals in non-magnetic metals
• Novel way to manipulate skyrmions will enable better memory and sensing devices
• Researchers observe spin currents in graphene without magnetic fields
• Researchers observe a new form of magnetism
• Cholesterol-based metal–organic supramolecular materials could boost spintronic devices
• Researchers show that light can interact with single-atom layers
• New antiferromagnetic spintronics project receives funding of nearly $4 million
• TDK announces the world's first "Spin Photo Detector" with 10X data transmission speeds
• New EU-funded project applies spintronics to the field of artificial intelligence
• Intel unveils a highly promising MESO spintronics device architecture
• Researchers use perovskite materials and light to control electron spins

An international research team that included researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Kyushu University and DGIST has developed a new fabrication method for energy-efficient magnetic random-access memory (MRAM). The new method relies on a material called thulium iron garnet (TmIG) which has been attracting global attention for its ability to enable high-speed, low-power information rewriting at room temperature. 

The team hopes these new findings will lead to significant improvements in the speed and power efficiency of high-computing hardware, such as those used to power generative AI.

Researchers from China's Hangzhou Dianzi University have developed an artificial intelligence-driven framework that could accelerate the discovery of antiferromagnetic materials for spintronics. Antiferromagnets (AFMs) are prized in advanced electronics because their alternating spin orientations cancel stray magnetic fields, creating fast, stable, and densely packable devices. However, their complex magnetic interactions and vast chemical possibilities have made systematic design extremely challenging.

The team’s approach combines a crystal diffusion variational autoencoder with data augmentation (CDVAE-DA), crystal graph convolutional neural networks (CGCNNs), a genetic algorithm (GA), and density functional theory (DFT) validation into a single, integrated pipeline. CDVAE-DA learns from tens of thousands of known crystal structures and then fine tunes its predictions on an AFM-specific dataset, producing novel, chemically valid candidates with over 90% composition accuracy. These structures are rapidly screened by CGCNN models, which assess three key properties: formation energy, total magnetic moment, and electronic band gap. Candidates meeting AFM-friendly criteria—stable energy, low net magnetization, and a targeted band gap range—are passed to the optimization stage.

Researchers from CNRS, Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy, and the Leibniz Institute for Crystal Growth have demonstrated that all-optical helicity-independent magnetization switching (AO-HIS) in spintronic materials is a spatially inhomogeneous process along the depth of nanometer-thin magnetic films, challenging the traditional view of uniform, local switching. 

Using femtosecond soft X-ray spectroscopy on a 9.4 nm-thick Gd₂₅Co₇₅ alloy film within a layered heterostructure, they observed an ultrafast formation and downward propagation of a magnetization boundary at about 2,000 m/s, sweeping through the magnetic layer in roughly 4.5 ps.

Researchers from Kobe University have investigated how fabrication techniques influence the interface between graphene barriers and nickel-iron alloy electrodes in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs). These interfaces play a crucial role in determining the performance of spintronic devices, but their atomic structure and resulting electronic properties can vary significantly depending on how the materials are combined. 

By comparing two main approaches - transferring graphene onto a nickel-iron substrate or depositing the alloy directly onto graphene - the team uncovered how the choice of process governs the stability of nickel-rich versus iron-rich surfaces, ultimately shaping the spin-dependent behavior of MTJs.

A rare spin effect once thought confined to bulk crystals is now confirmed in ultrathin magnetic films. This effect, known as altermagnetism, arises in a special class of antiferromagnets where electronic bands split depending on electron momentum, despite the absence of net magnetization. Unlike ferromagnets, which produce disruptive stray fields, or conventional antiferromagnets, which often conceal useful spin properties, altermagnets combine stability with robust spin-split band structures - making them attractive for spin-based devices.

A recent study by scientists from Pennsylvania State University, University of California (Santa Barbara), University of Minnesota, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Oakridge National Laboratory and Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science demonstrated this behavior in chromium antimonide (CrSb) thin films. 

Researchers at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST) in India have shown that cholesterol, the fat like substance, can be used to control the spin of electrons.

The team has found that cholesterol can serve as a platform for constructing supramolecular based spintronic materials as it enables precise control over molecular properties due to its intrinsic handedness (chirality) and flexibility.

Researchers from Korea University, Seoul National University, Northwestern University and Korea Institute of Science and Technology have created magnetic nanohelices that can control electron spin. The technology utilizes chiral magnetic materials to regulate electron spin at room temperature.

"These nanohelices achieve spin polarization exceeding ~80%—just by their geometry and magnetism," stated Professor Young Keun Kim of Korea University, a co-corresponding author of the study. He added: "This is a rare combination of structural chirality and intrinsic ferromagnetism, enabling spin filtering at room temperature without complex magnetic circuitry or cryogenics, and provides a new way to engineer electron behavior using structural design."