Relativistic Chips: The Spintronics Theory

“RELATIVISTIC CHIPS:
THE SPINTRONICS THEORY”

TOPICS OF DISCUSSION
 The Topics of Discussion are :

1. Birth of A New Era.
2. Relativistic Chips: The Concept.
3. Spintronic Chips: The Technology.
4. Spintronics Devices.
5. Limitations.
6. Conclusion.
INTRODUCTION
No microprocessor of the world can challenge

BRAIN,
BRAIN the ultimate biochemical machine.
Moore’s law still holds good.
Heat and energy are the two main constraints of
the present IC technology.
Relativity may be the Answer.
Even the world’s fastest computers are not very
faster, but the electrons in them do.
RELATIVISTIC CHIPS:THE CONCEPT
Einstein proposed the THEORY OF RELATIVITY.

THOERY OF RELATIVITY suggests a new design for
microchips that relies on the spin of electrons.
These so-called relativistic effects are all minuscule,
however, unless the object accelerates to a significant
fraction of c, which is about 300 million meters per second.
Though the high end chips are not as fast as light but the
electrons inside them do.
Contd…
SPINTRONICS:THE TECHNOLOGY
 SPINTRONICS,
SPINTRONICS short for spin electronics, is the study of electron spin
in materials in order to better understand its behavior, with the hope of
developing an entirely new generation of microelectronic devices.
SPIN
Two parts of
MR. ELECTRON
his personality!!!
CHARGE
 An electron is just like such a spinning sphere of charge.
 The electron has a quantum property, called spin, that makes it

behave almost as if it were a magnet twirling about the axis
connecting its north and south poles. Electrons (spheres) can
have spins oriented in different directions.
 A magnetic field causes an electron
to swivel like the needle of a
compass to line up with the field
(left). But the spin axis also
precesses like a wobbling top
(right).
 When the magnetic field is

removed, the electron stops
precessing and locks the orientation
of its spin.
SPINTRONICS DEVICES
 The Spintronic devices have opened us to a whole new world of
high-tech technology. Some of these devices to name are:
 RELATIVISTIC TRANSISTORS.
 MRAM (MAGNETIC RANDOM ACCESSS MEMORY).
 TRANSPINNORS.
 SPINTRONIC SOLAR CELLS.
RELATIVISTIC TRANSISTORS
 SPIN FET was proposed in 1990 by Supriyo Datta and Biswajit A.

Das, at Purdue University, in West Lafayette.
 They proposed a current modulator device based on the electric

field modification of spin precession in a narrow gap
semiconductor. In this device, the spin-polarized electrons would
be injected with the use of a ferromagnetic electrode that forms an
ohmic contact with the semiconductor and would be detected with
a second ferromagnetic electrode (spin analyzer) contact.
MRAM (Magnetic RAM)
MRAM stands for Magnetic Random Access Memory.
 It places the magnetic domains on the surface of a silicon chip

and places a magneto-resistive sensor beneath every one of
them. Just like a hard disk, the information stored in the
magnetic domains is non-volatile. It is not lost when the power
goes off.
The two main concept that govern MRAM technology are:
 Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR) effect

 The Tunneling Magneto-Resistive (TMR) effect
Contd…
GAINT MAGNETORESISTANCE TUNNELING MAGNETO-
EFFECT RESISTIVE EFFECT
OPERATION
 To write to the memory cell, a current pulse in the bit line
generates a localized magnetic field that sets the ‘free’ magnetic
layer into the appropriate orientation for a 0 or a 1, while the
other magnetic layer is held with a fixed orientation. To read the
memory cell, a current is passed through it via the selection
transistor to measure its resistance.
TRANSPINNORS
 A Transpinnor is a bridge of four
electrically connected GMR(giant
magnetoresistive) films whose resistance
is controlled by the magnetic field from
the current in one or more input striplines
electrically isolated from the GMR films.
 Transpinnors can be used as selection-
matrix elements for magnetic memories,
for logic elements of all kinds (e.g., AND,
OR, XOR, NAND, NOT), for amplifiers,
differential amplifiers.
SPINTRONIC SOLAR CELLS
Based on principle of the spin-polarized P-N junction

LIMITATIONS
 Every technology comes with its own short comings.

 Much remains to be understood about the behavior of
electron spins in materials for technological applications.
 HAZARDS OF HOLES.
 Fundamental challenges of creating and measuring spin,
understanding better the transport of spin at interfaces.
 Scope of the present IC fabrication technology.
CONCLUSION
 A number of spin-based microelectronic devices have been
proposed, and the giant magneto-resistive sandwich structure is
a proven commercial success, being a part of every computer
coming off the production line.
 Spintronic-based nonvolatile memory elements may very well
become available in the near future.
 Limitations had always made MAN to go beyond the horizon.
 Somebody had very rightly said
“Limitations are not there to tip you Off but only for Boosting
You Up”
QUESTIONS ?
 THANK YOU 

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“RELATIVISTIC CHIPS:

THE SPINTRONICS THEORY”

 The Topics of Discussion are :

No microprocessor of the world can challenge

Einstein proposed the THEORY OF RELATIVITY.

 The electron has a quantum property, called spin, that makes it

 When the magnetic field is

 SPIN FET was proposed in 1990 by Supriyo Datta and Biswajit A.

 They proposed a current modulator device based on the electric

 It places the magnetic domains on the surface of a silicon chip

The two main concept that govern MRAM technology are:

 Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR) effect

 Every technology comes with its own short comings.

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