Presently, the computer you regularly ‘Google’ away on works by extracting ‘messages’ from the flow direction of electrons surging back and forth inside its components. A new generation of computer, however, looks set to make this technology a thing of the past. These machines will work by manipulating the electrons’ ‘spin’ to carry data rather than their flow, something which has only been achieved thus far at very low temperatures. Now, however, a research team at the University of Twente in the Netherlands has been able to use ‘spin polarised electrons’, as they’re known, in silicon at room temperature for the very first time. Computers capable of using this technological innovation will require much less power.
Silicon-based technology has underpinned the computer industry for some time now. But as the components on silicon chips get ever smaller, they require more power to operate – moving electrons about through such microscopic dimensions takes a lot of energy, and generates a lot of heat. ‘Spintronics’ works not by moving flows of electrons but by harnessing the opposing ‘up’ or ‘down’ spins of electrons and arranging them in data-conveying ‘bunches’ to create the digital ‘on’/’off’ language of computers. By ensuring that the materials used at the interface where electrons enter the silicon were pure and of precisely the right thickness, the Dutch team finally managed to achieve manipulable electron spins at room temperature – that’s 150 degrees higher than any previous attempt. The breakthrough is already being heralded as a significant step in the development of future computer technology. Will Spintronics be the electronics of tomorrow?
