An MIT team precisely controlled an ultrathin magnet at room temperature, which could enable faster, more efficient processors and computer memories.
An MIT team precisely controlled an ultrathin magnet at room temperature, which could enable faster, more efficient processors and computer memories.
Experimental computer memories and processors built from magnetic materials use far less energy than traditional silicon-based devices. Two-dimensional magnetic materials, composed of layers that are only a few atoms thick, have incredible properties that could allow magnetic-based devices to achieve unprecedented speed, efficiency, and scalability.
While many hurdles must be overcome until these so-called van der Waals magnetic materials can be integrated into functioning computers, MIT researchers took an important step in this direction by demonstrating precise control of a van der Waals magnet at room temperature.
This is key, since magnets composed of atomically thin van der Waals materials can typically only be controlled at extremely cold temperatures, making them difficult to deploy outside a laboratory.
Read more at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Image: Caption:This illustration shows electric current being pumped into platinum (the bottom slab), which results in the creation of an electron spin current that switches the magnetic state of the 2D ferromagnet on top. The colored spheres represent the atoms in the 2D material. (Image: Courtesy of the researchers via Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
