Materials: Silicon in a spin
The first silicon-based spintronics device reported. Spintronics, an emerging technology that uses the quantum spin states as well as (or instead of) the charge states of electrons, offers another level of control over electronic devices. So with silicon already at the forefront of conventional electronics, devices like this could find themselves integrated with standard silicon technology.
Researchers have been trying to make devices that can transport electronic signals with all of the electrons spun in one direction only. But finding the right combinations of materials to do this efficiently has proved tricky. Ian Appelbaum and colleagues have achieved this by sandwiching an extra layer inside their device. The extra layer, made from aluminium and iron cobalt sits between an insulating barrier and the silicon, where it filters out electrons of a particular spin.
CONTACT
Ian Appelbaum (University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA)
Tel: +1 302 831 3295; E-mail: appelbaum@ee.udel.edu

Igor Zutic (State University of New York at Buffalo, NY, USA) N&V author
Tel: +1 716 645 2017 x183; E-mail: zigor@buffalo.edu