A research team at the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) and Tokyo University of Science has developed an element that can control spin with a lower current than conventional spintronics elements.It is expected as a technology that leads to low power consumption and high density of storage media.

 Electronics used everywhere, including computers and smartphones, are technologies that utilize the "charge" property of electrons.On the other hand, a new technical field called spintronics, which utilizes "spin", which is another property of electrons, is being actively researched.If it is put into practical use, it is expected that information communication that consumes almost no energy and high density storage media will be possible.On the other hand, the technology for freely manipulating the spin of electrons in matter is under development, and the development of devices capable of this is urgently needed.The ones that have already been developed use liquids, so there is a problem of liquid leakage, and it is difficult to put them into practical use.

 The group has developed an element that can control spin by stacking three solid substances, iron oxide, lithium silicate, and lithium cobalt oxide.By applying a voltage, lithium ions in lithium silicate can be moved inside iron oxide.This makes it possible to control the spin of electrons in iron oxide.Compared to conventional devices, it has the advantage of being able to control spin with low power consumption.Furthermore, since it is composed only of solids, there is no need to worry about liquid leakage.In addition, because of its simple structure, it is easy to achieve high integration by applying existing semiconductor substrate processing technology.

 It will take some time before it becomes a product such as computer memory, but it will be a big step forward.In the future, based on this result, it is planned to proceed to demonstration experiments for practical use such as technological development of high integration.

Tokyo University of Science

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Tokyo University of Science was founded in 1881 as the "Tokyo Physics Training Institute", and after more than 140 years of history, it has developed into a comprehensive science and engineering university with 4 campuses, 7 faculties, 33 departments, and 7 graduate schools with 30 majors. Graduation of students who have acquired the true ability and the founding spirit of "making the spread of science the basis for the development of national luck" […]

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