Spintronics breakthrough promises "next generation" PCs

 

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By Stewart Mitchell

Posted on 11 Aug 2010 at 10:00

Researchers at Ohio State University have claimed a “spintronics” breakthrough that could revolutionise storage by packing more data into less space.

Using spintronics – which measures the spin of electrons - the scientists have created a plastic memory device that can write and then read data in an entirely new way.

We could solve many of the problems facing computers today by using spintronics

“Spintronics is often just seen as a way to get more information out of an electron, but really it’s about moving to the next generation of electronics,” said Arthur Epstein, professor of physics and chemistry and director of the Institute for Magnetic and Electronic Polymers at Ohio State.

“We could solve many of the problems facing computers today by using spintronics,” he added.

Conventional electronics encode data in a binary code of ones and zeros depending on the presence or otherwise of an electron, but researchers have for years been trying to harness the fact that an electron's orientation can be altered, like a bar magnet.

Electrons are either “spin up” or “spin down”. Scientists say electronics that can differentiate between the two states would let computers store and transfer twice as much data per electron.

According to Epstein, the current research device is little more than a thin strip of dark blue organic-based magnet layered with a metallic ferromagnet and connected to two electrical leads.

But the researchers still successfully recorded data on it, retrieving it by controlling the spins of the electrons with a magnetic field.

“The material is a hybrid of a semiconductor that is made from organic materials and a special magnetic polymer semiconductor,” Epstein explained. “As such, it is a bridge between today’s computers and the all-polymer, spintronic computers that we hope to enable in the future.”

According to Epstein, the technology should transfer easily to industry, because “any place that makes computer chips could do this and we made the device at room temperature”.

Not just data storage

Although data storage has been touted as the most likely deployment area for spintronics, higher data density is only part of the story, the researchers said.

Spintronics creates far less heat than conventional circuitry so can be arranged more densely and run on smaller batteries, said Epstein.

“We would love to take portable electronics to a spin platform,” he said. “Think about soldiers in the field who have to carry heavy battery packs, or even civilian ‘road warriors’ commuting to meetings."

"If we had a lighter weight spintronic device which operates itself at a lower energy cost, and if we could make it on a flexible polymer display, soldiers and other users could just roll it up and carry it,” he added.