Researchers develop new spin-orbit torque configuration, claim huge energy reduction

"This work will likely provide a powerful approach for engineering new nanoelectronic devices and systems," claimed Professor Kang Wang, from UCLA's School of Engineering and Applied Science. "In conjunction with related types of magnetic devices being studied by our team, it represents a tremendous opportunity to realise higher performance memory and logic for future instant on and energy efficient, green electronic systems." The approach is based on spintronics, in which an electric current switches the polarity of an adjacent magnetic material. In existing spin-orbit torque devices, say the researchers, this usually needs an adjacent magnetic field to complete the switch. The structure devised at UCLA eliminates the need for an adjacent magnetic field. Instead, the researchers created an effective magnetic field by varying the angle of the structure by a few atoms, creating a shape that is thicker on one end and thinner on the other. Despite the difference in height being just a few nanometres, the configuration generates significant additional spin-orbit torque and the research team believes this could enable devices which use 1% the amount of energy used by current chips. Co principal investigator Pedram Khalili added: "Further work is needed to develop a more detailed microscopic understanding of the new observations and further evaluate their application and scaling potential."