A new kind of electronics, known as 'spintronics' could be used to make computers that store more data in less space, process data faster, and consume less power. It could even lead to computers that boot up instantly. This is according to Arthur Epstein, professor of physics and chemistry and director of Ohio State University's Center for Materials Research.
Epstein and his researchers have reported using a magnetic field to make nearly all the moving electrons inside a sample of plastic spin in the same direction, an effect called spin polarisation. They say achieving spin polarisation is the first step in converting the plastic into a device that could read and write spintronic data inside a computer. What is really unique about their work is that they have achieved spin polarisation in a polymer, which offers several advantages over silicon and gallium arsenide - the traditional materials for electronics.
Since the mid-1980s, Epstein and Joel Miller, professor of chemistry at the University of Utah, have been developing plastic electronics, most recently a plastic magnet that conducts electricity. "Electronics and magnetism have transformed modern society," said Epstein. "The advent of plastic electronics opens up many opportunities for new technologies such as flexible displays and inexpensive solar cells. With this latest study, we have now shown that we can make all of the components that go into spintronics from plastics."
Current spintronics efforts have been stymied by the fact that most suitable materials are not magnetic, except at very low temperatures. Cooling is also expensive - and takes up space. However, the researchers are using a plastic called vanadium tetracyanoethanide, which exhibits magnetic qualities at high temperatures, even above 100°C, so it could possibly function inside a computer without special cooling.
Normal electronics encodes computer data based on a binary code of ones and zeros, depending on whether an electron is present in a void within the material. But in principle, the direction of a spinning electron - either 'spin up' or 'spin down' - can be used as data, too. So spintronics would effectively let computers store and transfer twice as much data per electron.
Another bonus: once a magnetic field pushes an electron into a direction of spin, it will keep spinning the same way until another magnetic field causes the spin to change. This effect can be used to very quickly access magnetically stored information during computer operation - even if the electrical power is switched off between uses. Data can be stored permanently, and is nearly instantly available anytime.
Epstein says that plastic spintronics would also weigh less than traditional electronics and cost less to manufacture. Today's inorganic semiconductors are created through multiple steps of vacuum deposition and etching. Theoretically, inexpensive ink-jet technology could one day be used to quickly print entire sheets of plastic semiconductors for spintronics, he says.
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