Electric field assisted spintronic devices – ELECSPIN

Advances in spintronics will be crucial to sustain progress in computation and data storage in the face of dramatic increases in power consumption in aggressively scaled CMOS devices. Until now, spintronics devices rely on magnetic fields and spin polarized currents, which still generate relatively high dissipation. The ability to manipulate magnetic properties by the application of an electric field is the most promising avenue to designing ultra-low power spintronic devices. In ELECSPIN, we propose to develop a radically new line of devices based on manipulating magnetic properties by an electric field in oxides/ferromagnetic metal structures. We pursue two complementary routes based on (1) charge modulation and (2) ion migration with the transformative goal to provide the scientific underpinnings of next generation ultimately energy efficient, ultrafast and ultrasmall magneto-electronic devices.
As such, ELECSPIN aims at proposing multidisciplinary solutions in the fields of materials, interface engineering and nanodevices. The final aim is to combine different emerging spintronics effects in single memory devices to enhance the performance and reduce the power consumption. In France, pioneering work has been done and key expertise is available but scattered in different academic laboratories. This project gathers four leading and pioneering academic experts that will generate a strong impact in terms of know-how and radically new ultra-low power spintronics devices. It is a pathfinder project to investigate practical feasibility of a new idea, and if successful, it will lead to a paradigm shift for spintronics technology.