Graphene Flagship researchers based at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden have published in Nature Communications a research paper showing a graphene-based spin field-effect transistor operating at room temperature. Using the spin of the electrons in graphene and other layered material heterostructures the researchers have produced working devices as a step towards integrating spintronic logic and memory devices.
Current semiconductor logic devices within our computers use the flow and control of electronic charge for information processing. Spintronic memory devices use the intrinsic properties of electron spin to store information. For future devices, researchers are searching for ways to integrate both information processing and storage in one device unit.
"Graphene is an excellent medium for spin transport at room temperature, due to its low atomic mass. However, an unsolved challenge was to control the spin current at ambient temperature" explains Saroj Dash, group leader and Associate Professor at Chalmers University of Technology.
The Graphene Flagship researchers Andre Dankert and Saroj Dash have now shown that it is possible to electrically manipulate the spin properties of graphene in a controlled manner at room temperature. This not only could open many new possibilities in spin logic operations but also integration with magnetic memory elements in a single device. With further developments, if one could produce a spin current without charge flow, this will require far less power and lead to more versatile devices. This is especially important as we move more and more toward hand held mobile computing.
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