Breakthrough in 'Spintronics' Could Lead to Energy Efficient Chips

Silicon spin sandwich. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Twente)

ScienceDaily (Dec. 7, 2009) — Scientists from the MESA Institute for Nanotechnology of the University of Twente and the FOM Foundation have succeeded in transferring magnetic information directly into a semiconductor. For the first time, this is achieved at room temperature. This breakthrough brings the development of a more energy efficient form of electronics, so-called 'spintronics' within reach. The results are published on November 26 in Nature.

So far, information exchange between a magnetic material and a semiconductor was only possible at very low temperature. The successful demonstration of information exchange at room temperature is a pivotal step in the development of an alternative paradigm for electronics. The main advantage of this new 'spintronics' technology is the reduced power consumption: in present-day computer chips, excessive heat production is already a problem, and this will soon become a limiting factor.

Digital by nature

Unlike conventional electronics that employs the charge of the electron and its transport, spintronics exploits another important property of the electron, namely the 'spin'. The sense of rotation of an electron is represented by a spin that either points up or down. In magnetic materials, the spin orientation can be used to store a bit of information as a '1' or a '0'. The challenge is to transfer this spin information to a semiconductor, such that the information can be processed in new spin-based electronic components. These are expected to operate at lower power consumption, since computations such as reversing the electron spin, require less power than the usual transport of charge.

Only a few atomic layers thick

To achieve an efficient information exchange, the researchers insert an ultra thin -- less than one nanometer thick -- layer of aluminum oxide between the magnetic material and the semiconductor: this corresponds to only a few atomic layers. The thickness and quality of this layer are crucial. The information is transferred by applying an electric current across the oxide interface, thereby introducing a magnetization in the semiconductor, with a controllable magnitude and orientation.

Importantly, the method works for silicon: the prevalent electronic material for which highly advanced fabrication technology is available. The researchers found that the spin information can propagate into the silicon to a depth of several hundred nanometers. This is sufficient for the operation of nanoscale spintronic components, according to researcher Ron Jansen. Now the next step is: to built new electronic components and circuits and use these to manipulate spin information.

The spintronics research is performed by a team of researchers led by Ron Jansen at the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, and is made possible by financial support from the Foundation FOM and a VIDI-grant received from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO).

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091127124519.htm

World's Largest Laser

World's largest laser opens for business in California

by Laura June, posted May 29th 2009 at 9:49PM

Another day, another laser... well, not so fast. This particular laser just so happens to officially carry the "world's largest title." Built at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, and housed in the National Ignition Facility -- or NIF -- it was completed at the end of March, and has just now been officially dedicated and opened for business. The laser inside the three-football field-sized building will aim to create a "star" on earth by focusing 192 beams at a pea-sized target, generating temperatures over 100 million degrees and pressure over 100 billion times the earth's atmosphere. The process will create nuclear fusion -- the reaction that powers the sun and the stars. it sounds pretty complicated, and we'd hate to be in town if something goes awry, but we're crossing our fingers for the team! Hit the read link for much, much more information about the project.

LED Lights Positioned to replace CFLs

Some of the things many people have complained about on compact fluorescent light bulbs either aren’t true, or aren’t as true, with today’s bulbs as the first generation of them. They do warm up quicker now, and have more natural light tones.

But, it’s true that you can’t use them in dimmer switches, and they still contain mercury.

That’s why, especially as engineering lowers prices, more large-scale applications and users are going LED instead of CFL. In addition to these benefits, there’s another HUGE one for outdoor lighting, which is a drawback for LEDs in other spots.

Because LED lighting is directional, street lights get their light concentrated where it needs to be — and the night world outside city streets sees a cut in light pollution.