Spintronics research opens the way to new semiconductor technology

[Keio Spintronics Network - Masaaki Tanaka Laboratory , Tokyo University] Masaaki Tanaka Laboratory at the University of Tokyo leads the spintronics research, a 21st century field of electronics that utilizes electron spin. Q. The computers we use today are based on large-scale integrated circuits (LSI), which are made of silicon transistors. The size of transistors is becoming smaller and smaller, but approaching the limits of microfabrication. Power consumption increases sharply, and the cost of making devices smaller becomes high. So we're approaching the limits in a variety of senses, both physically and economically. The semiconductors that have supported electronics and information technology so far utilize only the charge of electrons. But the Tanaka Lab is working to create a new paradigm for electronics, by utilizing spin, another degree of freedom possessed by electrons. By analogy with classical mechanics, spin is the rotation of an electron. Because the rotation of electrons can never be stopped, electrons can be described as the world's smallest magnets. The fact that materials can be made to exhibit ferromagnetism by controlling the direction of spin is a major key to spintronics technology. Q. In magnetic materials, electron spins are aligned, creating a ferromagnetic state. This is utilized to create high-density memory devices. One example is computer hard disks, and another is MRAM, which is expected to be used as next-generation non-volatile memory ...