Spin-based electronics gets boost

Source: BBC News



BBC - The next generation of computers may make use of the “spin” of electrons instead of their charge. Spintronics relies on manipulating these spins to make them capable of carrying data. The technique has been shown in a number of materials at low temperatures before.

But researchers writing in Nature have made use of these “spin-polarised” electrons in silicon at room temperature for the first time. The result could lead to computers that require far less power than conventional ones.

The fact that the effect has been demonstrated in silicon - the material that already underpins the computer industry - means that devices exploiting it could be made on a commercial scale more easily.

The problem with silicon is that, as the individual features on silicon chips get smaller and smaller, they require more and more power to move the charged electrons around to represent 0s and 1s of binary code.

That rise in power also means that future chips will run into problems with heating.

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