Spintronic components - single electron transistors

In the past few years, spintronics technology (new generation electronic components that control the spin current of electrons) has grown dramatically. Spintronic is a combination of magnetic properties in traditional electronic components, with the aim of taking advantage of not only the electrical charge of the electronics, but also the combination of components to enhance the features of the device.

From left: Håkan Pettersson, Ruisheng Liu and Lars Samuelson

A new single electron transistor (Ni / Au / Ni) was developed by the team of Ruisheng Liu at the University of Halmstad and colleagues at Lund University (Sweden) by assembling the use of atomic force microscopes. to manipulate (According to new results on Nanotechnology 18 (2007) 055302).

Single-electron ferromagnetic transistor (F-SET: Ferromagnetic Single-Electron Transistor) is a hot research topic of spintronics technology both in terms of application and basic research. The reduced dimensions of this type of device make them ideal for basic studies of spin transportation (spin transportation) and spin relaxation. Furthermore, F-SETs can form quantum bits (qubits), and will be the foundation bricks for future quantum computer generation.

In the work published in Nanotechnology (Institute of Physics, United Kingdom), Ruisheng Liu's team used atomic force microscopy (AFM) to manipulate patterns made with electric beam lithography. to create an Au disk 30 nm in diameter formed in the central "oasis" of the transistor. This oasis is placed into a narrow gap bridge between the two poles (source and pole) and the Ni electrode. The fundamental advantage of this technique is to include oasis control in terms of size, shape and composition as well as electrical properties that can be controlled from time to time during the manufacturing process by placing an oasis. center with accuracy to Angstrom (figure).

A little about the author group: Ruisheng Liu is conducting a PhD thesis on spintronics under the guidance of Professor Hakan Pettersson at Halmstad University and Professor Lars Samuelson at Lund University (Sweden), having close ties with Professor Carlo Canali's group at Kalmar University, Sweden.

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