Magnetic materials are the backbone of modern digital information technologies, such as hard-disk storage. A University of Washington-led team has now taken this one step further by encoding information using magnets that are just a few layers of atoms in thickness. This breakthrough may revolutionize both cloud computing technologies and consumer electronics by enabling data storage at a greater density and improved energy efficiency.
In a study published online May 3 in the journal Science, the researchers report that they used stacks of ultrathin materials to exert unprecedented control over the flow of electrons based on the direction of their spins — where the electron “spins” are analogous to tiny, subatomic magnets. The materials that they used include sheets of chromium tri-iodide (CrI3), a material described in 2017 as the first ever 2-D magnetic insulator. Four sheets — each only atoms thick — created the thinnest system yet that can block electrons based on their spins while exerting more than 10 times stronger control than other methods.
“Our work reveals the possibility to push information storage based on magnetic technologies to the atomically thin limit,” said co-lead author Tiancheng Song, a UW doctoral student in physics.
In related research, published April 23 in Nature Nanotechnology, the team found ways to electrically control the magnetic properties of this atomically thin magnet.
“With the explosive growth of information, the challenge is how to increase the density of data storage while reducing operation energy,” said corresponding author Xiaodong Xu, a UW professor of physics and of materials science and engineering, and faculty researcher at the UW Clean Energy Institute. “The combination of both works points to the possibility of engineering atomically thin magnetic memory devices with energy consumption orders of magnitude smaller than what is currently achievable.”
The new Science paper also looks at how this material could allow for a new type of memory storage that exploits the electron spins in each individual sheet.
The researchers sandwiched two layers of CrI3 between conducting sheets of graphene. They showed that, depending on how the spins are aligned between each of the CrI3 sheets, the electrons can either flow unimpeded between the two graphene sheets or were largely blocked from flowing. These two different configurations could act as the bits — the zeroes and ones of binary code in everyday computing — to encode information.
“The functional units of this type of memory are magnetic tunnel junctions, or MTJ, which are magnetic ‘gates’ that can suppress or let through electrical current depending on how the spins align in the junction,” said co-lead author Xinghan Cai, a UW postdoctoral researcher in physics. “Such a gate is central to realizing this type of small-scale data storage.”
With up to four layers of CrI3, the team discovered the potential for “multi-bit” information storage. In two layers of CrI3, the spins between each layer are either aligned in the same direction or opposite directions, leading to two different rates that the electrons can flow through the magnetic gate. But with three and four layers, there are more combinations for spins between each layer, leading to multiple, distinct rates at which the electrons can flow through the magnetic material from one graphene sheet to the other.
“Instead of your computer having just two choices to store a piece of data in, it can have a choice A, B, C, even D and beyond,” said co-author Bevin Huang, a UW doctoral student in physics. “So not only would storage devices using CrI3 junctions be more efficient, but they would intrinsically store more data.”
The researchers’ materials and approach represent a significant improvement over existing techniques under similar operating conditions using magnesium oxide, which is thicker, less effective at blocking electrons and lacks the option for multi-bit information storage.
“Although our current device requires modest magnetic fields and is only functional at low temperature, infeasible for use in current technologies, the device concept and operational principle are novel and groundbreaking,” said Xu. “We hope that with developed electrical control of magnetism and some ingenuity, these tunnel junctions can operate with reduced or even without the need for a magnetic field at high temperature, which could be a game changer for new memory technology.”
Learn more: Atomically thin magnetic device could lead to new memory technologies
The Latest on: Atomically thin magnetic device
[google_news title=”” keyword=”atomically thin magnetic device” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Atomically thin magnetic device
- “Magnetisation switching” can replace transistors, cutting energy demand from computing by an order of magnitudeon May 1, 2024 at 12:00 am
Globally, energy demand from computing is growing so fast the search is on to find fundamental ways to make it more efficient. “Magnetisation switching” has long been seen as a more efficient way than ...
- Exploring Unconventional Superconductivity in Synthetic and Natural Materialson April 24, 2024 at 8:12 am
Superconductivity is a notable discovery that has recently gained significant attention. Conventional superconductors, such as aluminum and niobium, are considered major participants in this domain. 1 ...
- Mechanical strain control of quantum transport in graphene enables new class of nanoelectronic deviceson April 23, 2024 at 5:00 pm
The crystal structure of these atomically ... and a device architecture to meet this challenge. They fabricated graphene devices with suspended channels anchored by gold electrodes, which were shaped ...
- Study shows ultra-thin two-dimensional materials can rotate the polarization of visible lighton April 22, 2024 at 8:52 am
It has been known for centuries that light exhibits wave-like behavior in certain situations. Some materials are able to rotate the polarization, i.e. the direction of oscillation, of the light wave ...
- MIT Unlocks the Power of 2D Magnets for Future Computingon April 20, 2024 at 2:46 pm
MIT scientists have tackled key obstacles to bringing 2D magnetic materials into practical use, setting the stage for the next generation of energy-efficient computers. Globally, computation is ...
- New nondestructive technique for analyzing single-atom-thick materialson April 18, 2024 at 5:00 pm
In doing so, it promises to accelerate the development of novel functional materials and devices from the growing array of atomically thin building blocks. By revealing the hidden atomic landscapes ...
- Scientists Create Atomically Thin Gold With Century-Old Japanese Knife Making Techniqueon April 18, 2024 at 10:52 am
Researchers have managed to create a 2D version of gold they call "goldene," which could have a host of applications in chemistry.
- Robust Electrically Switchable Magnets for Green Computingon April 5, 2024 at 9:34 am
With this, the staggering energy demand of the world's computing infrastructure has become a major concern, and the development of computing devices that are far more energy-efficient is a leading ...
via Bing News