Tomorrow’s spintronics could use 1,000 times less energy

Researchers from Irig-CNRS and Thales published a breakthrough advance in spintronics in Nature. Rather than manipulating spin with a nanomagnet, they selected a ferroelectric material to do the job. Their novel approach uses 1,000 times less energy to write information.

Like for ferromagnetic materials, the information stored is non-volatile (it is stored without the need for additional energy). The polarization state of the ferroelectric element can be read without depolarizing, eliminating one of the habitual problems with ferroelectric RAM.

The researchers will now turn their attention to reproducing these effects, which they observed at 45 K, at ambient temperature. Their work lays the foundations for ferroelectric spintronics, which could enable innovative new low-power memory, neuromorphic components, and more.

Contacts: jean-philippe.attane@cea.fr, laurent.vila@cea.fr

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