Spintronics project gets £430,000 grant
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Researchers from the University of Surrey and two other institutions have been awarded a £430,000 grant to develop silicon structures for spintronic semiconductors. According to the team, the three year project – funded jointly by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the National Science Foundation of China – could lead to cheaper and more sophisticated computer processing technologies.
The Silicon Based Nanospintronics project brings together experts from the London Centre for Nanotechnology, the Institute of Microelectronics at Peking University and the University of Surrey's Advanced Technology Institute.
According to the team, the proposal combines Chinese excellence in silicon fabrication nanotechnology and UK expertise in observing and controlling the way electrons spin within semiconductors.
Professor Benedict Murdin, Photonics Group Leader at Surrey's Advanced Technology Institute, said: "This is an important development in a key emerging area of research."
While silicon has not been the material of choice for spintronic research, the team says exploration of silicon based platforms is important due to the potential for exploiting an extremely pure material and the far cheaper and more sophisticated processing technologies available.
The project will focus on manipulating electron spins with laser beams will look to build a prototype device.
