February 2014

Researchers from Germany's Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) developed and tested a new technique to fabricate spin valves using ion beams. The researchers managed to structure an iron aluminium alloy in such a way as to subdivide the material into individually magnetizable regions at the nanometer scale - and function as a spin valve.

This is a different approach to standard spin valves, made from successive non-magnetic and ferromagnetic layers. The new spin valves has a lateral spin valve geometry, where the different magnetic regions are organized one next to the other as opposed to in layers one on top of the other. This enables the spin valves to work in parallel on large surfaces, and also means that that the production costs are low.

Researchers from North Carolina State University integrated Vanadium Dioxide (currently used to make infrared sensors) as a single crystal on a silicon substrate. This allowed them to develop smart infrared sensors in which the sensor and computational function are embedded on a single chip. Such devices may enable faster and more energy efficient sensors.

In addition to developing a new sensor architecture, the researchers also managed to make the Vanadium Dioxide magnetic using a high-power nanosecond-pulsed laser beam. They hope this will enable them to develop Spintronics sensors that incorporate infrared sensors and magnetic sensors on a single chip.