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Magnetless Spin Memory by Researchers in Israel

Has potential to overcome limitations of other magnetic memory technologies.

Researchers in Israel have developed a simple magnetization progress that could lead to a new generation of faster, smaller and less expensive memory technologies.

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Schematic drawing of the device, with a top view on the left and a blowout side view on the right. The gold contacts are represented in yellow, and the thin ferromagnetic Ni is in transparent purple. The Al²O³ layer above the chiral molecules is in red. The Si is displayed in dark blue, and the SiO² is displayed in light blue. The reading or writing is performed by driving the current between the two gold contacts. When current flows through the device, the electrons are polarized by the chiral molecules, and, consequently, they transfer their polarization to the Ni and magnetize it. The reading is achieved by driving a small current and measuring the change in the resistance. The resistance correlates with the magnetization of the Ni. Positive voltage in our electrode configuration is when the bottom contact receives positive voltage and the top contact is grounded.

Magnetless spin memory eliminates the need for permanent magnets in memory devices, opening the door to many technological applications.

Memory devices like HDDs, flash drives and RAM play an important role in our lives. They are an essential component of  computers, phones, electronic appliances and cars. Yet current memory devices have significant drawbacks: dynamic RAM memory has to be refreshed periodically, static RAM data is lost when the power is off, flash memory lacks speed, and all existing memory technologies are challenged when it comes to miniaturization.

Increasingly, memory devices are a bottleneck limiting performance. In order to achieve a substantial improvement in computation speed, scientists are racing to develop smaller and denser memory devices that operate with high speed and low power consumption.

Prof. Yossi Paltiel and research student Oren Ben-Dor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Harvey M. Krueger Family Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, together with researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science, have developed a simple magnetization progress that, by eliminating the need for permanent magnets in memory devices, opens the door to many technological applications.

Published in Nature Communications, the research paper, A chiral-based magnetic memory device without a permanent magnet, was written by Prof. Yossi Paltiel, Oren Ben Dor and Shira Yochelis at the Department of Applied Physics, Harvey M. Krueger Family Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; and Shinto P. Mathew and Ron Naaman at the Department of Chemical Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science.

The research deals with the flow properties of electron charge carriers in memory devices. According to quantum mechanics, in addition to their electrical charge, electrons also have a degree of internal freedom called spin, which gives them their magnetic properties. The new technique, called magnetless spin memory (MSM), drives a current through chiral material (a kind of abundantly available organic molecule) and selectively transfers electrons to magnetize nano magnetic layers or nano particles. With this technique, the researchers showed it is possible to create a magnetic-based memory device that does not require a permanent magnet, and which could allow for the miniaturization of memory bits down to a single nanoparticle.

The potential benefits of magnetless spin memory are many. The technology has the potential to overcome the limitations of other magnetic-based memory technologies, and could make it possible to create inexpensive, high-density universal memory-on-chip devices that require much less power than existing technologies. Compatible with integrated circuit manufacturing techniques, it could allow for inexpensive, high density universal memory-on-chip production.

According to the Hebrew University’s Prof. Paltiel, "Now that proof-of-concept devices have been designed and tested, magnetless spin memory has the potential to become the basis of a whole new generation of faster, smaller and less expensive memory technologies."

The technology transfer companies of the Hebrew University (Yissum) and the Weizmann Institute of Science (Yeda) are working to promote the realization of this technology, by licensing its use and raising funds for further development and commercialization. With many possible applications, it has already attracted the attention of start-up funds.

The Hebrew University’s Center of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology helped with device fabrication and advice. Prof. Paltiel acknowledges the Yessumit internal grant from the Hebrew University, and Ron Naaman and Shinto P. Mathew acknowledge the support of the Minerva Foundation.

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