July 6, 2011 at 22:28
An important step in the next generation of computers: Vital Insight Into Spintronics
- Transfer
Scientists are one step closer to the next generation of computers. Research conducted in the Department of Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge provides a new understanding of spintronics (spin electronics), which has been regarded as the successor to the transistor.
Spintronics uses tiny magnetic moments of an electron, or “ spin, ” due to which it can fundamentally change the computing power due to its high-speed potential, high density and low power consumption. A new study sheds light on how to make spin more effective.
Over the past fifty years, advances in electronics have been heavily dependent on the reduction of transistors in the semiconductor industry to create the small, powerful computers that are the foundation of our modern information society. In 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore described that the number of transistors that are housed on an integrated circuit doubled each year between 1958 and 1965, predicting that this trend would continue for at least another ten years.
This prediction, also known as Moore’s law, actually describes this trend, which continues now, but the end of this trend - when the transistors will be small as atoms and it will be impossible to reduce them further - this is expected already in 2015 (well, will hope...).
Spintronics research is an attempt to develop spin-based electronic technology that will replace semiconductor technology. Scientists have already begun to develop a new spin electronics, starting with the discovery in 1988 of the action of giant magnetoresistance (GMR). The discovery of the GMR effect led to a breakthrough in the size of hard drives and was a key moment in the development of portable electronic devices such as the iPod.
While conventional technologies are based on the use of an electron charge, spintronics regions are based on spin manipulation. One of the unique properties in spintronics is that the spin can be transmitted without the passage of an electric charge. This is called the “spin current” and, unlike other concepts of the operation of electrons, information can be transmitted through the spin current without generating heat in electrical devices. The main problems in creating spin current is the difficulty of creating a sufficiently large amount of spin current to support current and future electronic devices.
However, new Cambridge researchers, in close collaboration with Professor Sergey Demokritov, a group from Münster, addressed this issue. In order to create stronger spin currents, the researchers used the collective motion of spins called spin waves. By bringing the spin waves together, they demonstrated a new, more efficient way to produce spin current.
Dr. Hidekazu Kurebayashi, of the microelectronics group at the Cavendish Laboratory, said: “You can find many different waves in nature, and one of the fascinating things is that waves often interact with each other, and there are a number of different interactions in spin waves. Our idea is to use the interaction of such spin waves to create effective spin currents. "
According to them, one of the interactions of spin waves (the so-called three-magnon splitting) generates a spin current, which is ten times more effective than using pre-interacting spin waves.
Well, we are waiting for 2015, when the transistors will be the size of an atom :)
Spintronics uses tiny magnetic moments of an electron, or “ spin, ” due to which it can fundamentally change the computing power due to its high-speed potential, high density and low power consumption. A new study sheds light on how to make spin more effective.
Over the past fifty years, advances in electronics have been heavily dependent on the reduction of transistors in the semiconductor industry to create the small, powerful computers that are the foundation of our modern information society. In 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore described that the number of transistors that are housed on an integrated circuit doubled each year between 1958 and 1965, predicting that this trend would continue for at least another ten years.
This prediction, also known as Moore’s law, actually describes this trend, which continues now, but the end of this trend - when the transistors will be small as atoms and it will be impossible to reduce them further - this is expected already in 2015 (well, will hope...).
Spintronics research is an attempt to develop spin-based electronic technology that will replace semiconductor technology. Scientists have already begun to develop a new spin electronics, starting with the discovery in 1988 of the action of giant magnetoresistance (GMR). The discovery of the GMR effect led to a breakthrough in the size of hard drives and was a key moment in the development of portable electronic devices such as the iPod.
While conventional technologies are based on the use of an electron charge, spintronics regions are based on spin manipulation. One of the unique properties in spintronics is that the spin can be transmitted without the passage of an electric charge. This is called the “spin current” and, unlike other concepts of the operation of electrons, information can be transmitted through the spin current without generating heat in electrical devices. The main problems in creating spin current is the difficulty of creating a sufficiently large amount of spin current to support current and future electronic devices.
However, new Cambridge researchers, in close collaboration with Professor Sergey Demokritov, a group from Münster, addressed this issue. In order to create stronger spin currents, the researchers used the collective motion of spins called spin waves. By bringing the spin waves together, they demonstrated a new, more efficient way to produce spin current.
Dr. Hidekazu Kurebayashi, of the microelectronics group at the Cavendish Laboratory, said: “You can find many different waves in nature, and one of the fascinating things is that waves often interact with each other, and there are a number of different interactions in spin waves. Our idea is to use the interaction of such spin waves to create effective spin currents. "
According to them, one of the interactions of spin waves (the so-called three-magnon splitting) generates a spin current, which is ten times more effective than using pre-interacting spin waves.
Well, we are waiting for 2015, when the transistors will be the size of an atom :)