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Spintronics--An Emerging Technology Analysis (Technical Insights)
Frost & Sullivan, March 2005
Impact of GMR Generates Interest in Spintronics
The world of technology is moving rapidly from the realm of the electron to that of the quantum. Electron spin is one such quantum effect that has created a new science called spintronics. This emerging technology started attracting massive interest with the discovery of giant magnetoresistance (GMR) in the 1980s, which has already been adopted as the norm in the hard disk drive (HDD) manufacturing industry. Indeed, the impact of spintronics in the HDD industry is a mere indication of things to come. Spin-based devices have a vast number of potential applications, most notably in nonvolatile memory devices, magnetic sensors, and spin-based transistors. Magnetic sensors have already found a wide market application, thereby establishing the commercial viability of spin-based devices.
This Technical Insights study is an exhaustive technology analysis of the emerging science of spintronics. It discusses ongoing research in this field as well as examines its potential adoption, applications, and opportunities. What sets this study apart is its special focus on user concerns in terms of the practical applications of spintronics technology and real world issues that are likely to hamper technology adoption.
Spintronics Scores in terms of Miniaturization and High Sensitivity
Spin-based devices are closely connected with the development of nanotechnology. The manipulation of spin calls for working at very small dimensions and this has led to a high degree of miniaturization in these devices, notes the analyst of this research service. Small is the way to go in technology and miniaturization could potentially take spintronic devices to the next level.
Theoretically, since spin-based devices also demonstrate a greater degree of sensitivity than conventional electronic devices, they have significant potential in applications that demand high precision. GMR heads, for instance are more sensitive than magnetic heads that were commonly used earlier. The heightened sensitivity of GMR heads allows for increased areal density, which could enable higher storage capacities on hard disks. Additionally, it helps make them less subject to noise and interference, and they can be made smaller and lighter than magnetoresistive (MR) heads.
Novel Value-added Applications Drive Spintronics
Spintronics has a number of potentially groundbreaking applications that are set to drive next-generation electronics, says the analyst. While GMR can arguably be considered the driving force for spintronics at present, the biggest potential of spin-based devices is in embedded memories. Magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) is expected to revolutionize the memory market and contribute to the development of advanced and versatile computing and personal devices. Promising advances such as instantly bootable computers, MRAM could well be the next big thing in spintronics.
Quantum computation is perhaps one of the most exciting potential applications of spintronics. However, harnessing the power of the quantum states to enable information processing and storage is not easy. The evolution of MRAMs and various spin-based technologies could be critically important in facilitating the development of the first quantum computer.
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