Graphene and 2D materials could move electronics beyond 'Moore's Law'


Date:
June 3, 2020
Source:
University of Manchester
Summary:
New developments in spintronics could lead to graphene being used
as a building block for next-generation electronics.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== [Illustration of graphene | Credit: (c) koya979 / stock.adobe.com]
Illustration of graphene (stock image).

Credit: (c) koya979 / stock.adobe.com [Illustration of graphene | Credit:
(c) koya979 / stock.adobe.com] Illustration of graphene (stock image).

Credit: (c) koya979 / stock.adobe.com Close A team of researchers based
in Manchester, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland and the
USA has published a new review on a field of computer device development
known as spintronics, which could see graphene used as building block
for next-generation electronics.


========================================================================== Recent theoretical and experimental advances and phenomena in studies of electronic spin transport in graphene and related two-dimensional (2D) materials have emerged as a fascinating area of research and development.

Spintronics is the combination of electronics and magnetism,
at the nanoscale and could lead to next generation high-speed
electronics. Spintronic devices are a viable alternative for
nanoelectronics beyond Moore's law, offering higher energy efficiency
and lower dissipation as compared to conventional electronics, which
relies on charge currents. In principle we could have phones and tablets operating with spin-based transistors and memories.

As published in APS Journal Review of Modern Physics, the review focuses
on the new perspectives provided by heterostructures and their emergent phenomena, including proximity-enabled spin-orbit effects, coupling spin
to light, electrical tunability and 2D magnetism.

The average person already encounters spintronics in laptops and PCs,
which are already using spintronics in the form of the magnetic sensors
in the reading heads of hard disk drives. These sensors are also used
in the automotive industry.

Spintronics is a new approach to developing electronics where both memory devices (RAM) and logic devices (transistors) are implemented with the
use of 'spin', which is the basic property of electrons that cause them
to behave like tiny magnets, as well as the electronic charge.



==========================================================================
Dr Ivan Vera Marun, Lecturer in Condensed Matter Physics at The University
of Manchester said: "The continuous progress in graphene spintronics,
and more broadly in 2D heterostructures, has resulted in the efficient creation, transport, and detection of spin information using effects
previously inaccessible to graphene alone.

"As efforts on both the fundamental and technological aspects
continue, we believe that ballistic spin transport will be realised
in 2D heterostructures, even at room temperature. Such transport would
enable practical use of the quantum mechanical properties of electron
wave functions, bringing spins in 2D materials to the service of future
quantum computation approaches." Controlled spin transport in graphene
and other two-dimensional materials has become increasingly promising
for applications in devices. Of particular interest are custom-tailored heterostructures, known as van der Waals heterostructures, that consist of stacks of two-dimensional materials in a precisely controlled order. This review gives an overview of this developing field of graphene spintronics
and outlines the experimental and theoretical state of the art.

Billions of spintronics devices such as sensors and memories are already
being produced. Every hard disk drive has a magnetic sensor that uses
a flow of spins, and magnetic random access memory (MRAM) chips are
becoming increasingly popular.

Over the last decade, exciting results have been made in the field of
graphene spintronics, evolving to a next generation of studies extending
to new two- dimensional (2D) compounds.



========================================================================== Since its isolation in 2004, graphene has opened the door for other 2D materials. Researchers can then use these materials to create stacks of
2D materials called heterostructures. These can be combined with graphene
to create new 'designer materials' to produce applications originally
limited to science fiction.

Professor Francisco Guinea who co-authored the paper said: "The field of spintronics, the properties and manipulation of spins in materials has
brought to light a number of novel aspects in the behaviour of solids. The study of fundamental aspects of the motion of spin carrying electrons
is one of the most active fields in the physics of condensed matter."
The identification and characterisation of new quantum materials with
non- trivial topological electronic and magnetic properties is being intensively studied worldwide, after the formulation, in 2004 of the
concept of topological insulators. Spintronics lies at the core of this
search. Because of their purity, strength, and simplicity, two dimensional materials are the best platform where to find these unique topological
features which relate quantum physics, electronics, and magnetism."
Overall, the field of spintronics in graphene and related 2D materials
is currently moving towards the demonstration of practical graphene
spintronic devices such as coupled nano-oscillators for applications
in fields of space communication, high?speed radio links, vehicle radar
and interchip communication applications.

Advanced materials is one of The University of Manchester's research
beacons - - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary
collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of
the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Manchester. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. A. Avsar, H. Ochoa, F. Guinea, B. O"zyilmaz, B. J. van Wees,
I. J. Vera-Marun. Colloquium: Spintronics in graphene and
other two-dimensional materials. Reviews of Modern Physics, 2020;
92 (2) DOI: 10.1103/RevModPhys.92.021003 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200603122949.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200603122949.htm

--- up 19 weeks, 1 day, 3 hours, 31 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1337:3/111)