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Fundamentals of nanostructured magnetic materials for spintronic devices

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Abstract

Spin electronics can be described as the marriage of magnetism with nanotechnology—or equally well, new electronic devices based on nanomagnetism. The goal is to actively manipulate the spin of the electron that modern microelectronics has heretofore mostly ignored. The rapid progress this field has seen in the last 15 years is largely due to our extensive knowledge base of nanomagnetism—the magnetic properties of materials as their dimensionality is reduced—combined with rapid progress in atomic control of the growth of different materials and heterostructures. The materials involved, metals, semiconductors and more recently strongly correlated oxides, offer many physical paradoxes that are not yet well understood, and so reside at the forefront of many theoretical and experimental investigations. And because these materials have potential to form the basis for future electronic devices with real advantages over existing schemes—new devices that depend on manipulation, generation and detection of spin and spin currents—these efforts are often placed in a clear technological context.

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    B. A. Davidson

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Davidson, B.A. Fundamentals of nanostructured magnetic materials for spintronic devices. Riv. Nuovo Cim. 30, 159–195 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1393/ncr/i2007-10019-5

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