Spin waves boost energy efficiency by 1000 times, says US team
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US researchers claim to have made major improvements in computer processing by building logic devices using a class of magnetic materials called multiferroics. The researchers, from UCLA's School of Engineering, say the approach reduces the amount of power consumed by logic devices and believes the work could result in more energy efficient devices.
Multiferroics, typically perovskite transition metal oxides, feature at least two properties from ferromagnetism, ferroelectricity, ferroelasticity and ferrotoroidicity. A multiferroic can be switched on or off by applying an alternating voltage. Power is then carried through the material by electron spins, also called a spin wave bus.
Professor Kang Wang said: "Spin waves open an opportunity to realise fundamentally new ways of computing while solving some of the key challenges faced by scaling of conventional semiconductor technology, potentially creating a new paradigm of spin based electronics."
Using multiferroic materials, the researchers showed that by generating spin waves, processing power efficiency could be boosted by up to 1000 times.
The work builds on an earlier UCLA project in which the same approach was used to develop MeRAM devices. This suggested similar increases in energy efficiency could be expected, along with a fivefold boost in density.
The image shows magnetoelectric cells used for voltage controlled spin wave generation. The spin wave bus material is seen as a yellow stripe, approximately 4µm wide.
