The novel, atomically thin material is seen as clusters of golden dots on the top of the chip. Credit: Chalmers / Roselle Ngaloy
The amount of data being stored, processed and transmitted around the globe is growing fast, and so too is the energy needed to power it.
Memory chips are required for almost all modern technologies that process and store information, from artificial intelligence systems to computers, autonomous vehicles and medical devices.
Now, researchers have developed layered material that can reduce the energy consumed by memory devices by a factor of 10 by doing away with the need for power-hungry external magnetic fields.
The alloy is made from the magnetic elements cobalt and iron, and nonmagnetic elements germanium and tellurium. It allows 2 opposing magnetic forces to coexist in the same thin material.
Until now, this has only been possible by stacking different ‘ferromagnetic’ and ‘antiferromagnetic’ materials in multilayer structures.
In a ferromagnet the material’s electrons align the orientations of their ‘spin’ in the same direction (up or down) to create a unified magnetic field. In antiferromagnetic material the electrons’ spins align into opposite arrangements so there is no overall external magnetism.
“Finding this coexistence of magnetic orders in a single, thin material is a breakthrough,” says Dr Bing Zhao, a researcher in quantum device physics at Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology and lead author of the study published in Advanced Materials.
“Its properties make it exceptionally well-suited for developing ultra-efficient memory chips for AI, mobile devices, computers and future data technologies.”
This is because memory devices can use the direction of electron spin to store information. These ‘spintronic’ devices must be able to change the electron spin direction, which typically requires an external magnetic field.
The new material’s combination of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic materials creates an internal force and tilted overall magnetic alignment which Zhao says “allows electrons to switch direction rapidly and easily without the need for any external magnetic fields”.
“By eliminating the need for power-hungry external magnetic fields, power consumption can be reduced by a factor of 10,” he says.