Chapter 10
Spintronics Applications
10.1 Overview
Spintronic devices exploit the spin, as well as the charge, of electrons and could
bring new capabilities to the microelectronics industry (Hirohataa and Yamadab
2020; Potter 1974; Berger 1988; Dieny 1991; Lederman 1999; Berg 1996; Sakakima
2000; Veloso 2000; Parkin 1999; Granley et al. 1996; Ziese and Thornton 2001). The
induction of mass production of magnetic memory in 2018 makes the spintronics
technology accepted for the mainstream technology in microelectronics industry.
Industrialization of devices based on giant magnetoresistance, tunnel magnetoresistance and spin transfer torque bears perspectives of applications in the fields as
diverse as ultra-low power electronics, Internet of Things (IoT), RF communication,
energy harvesting, artificial intelligence, cryo-electronics, quantum engineering and
many more. This chapter illustrates modern advances in spintronic devices that have
the potential to impact the key areas of information technology and microelectronics.
Spintronic devices are promising candidates for future low-energy electronics that
take advantage of the non-volatility of nanoscale magnets. In these devices, the spin
polarization is controlled either by magnetic layers used as spin polarizers or analysers or via spin–orbit coupling. For example, magnetic random access memory
(MRAM) is emerging as a universal integrated on-chip memory. Magnetic devices
and systems exploiting a spin quantum number, a hard disk drive (HDD), had global
market revenue of approximately $11bn in 2018. The other booming field in spintronics application is magnetic field sensors, which had market revenue of ~$19bn
in 2018. However, the field of semiconductor devices had a much larger market of
~$469bn in 2018.
The Nobel Prize winning discovery of GMR in 32 years ago initiated the field and
remarkable quantity of scientific and technological know-how has been built up in the
mean time. GMR-based spin valves and magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) quickly
found large-scale commercial applications in diversified field of science and technology. The innovation of spin transfer torques (STT), tunnelling magnetoresistance
(TMR) and magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) have made it possible to build scalable
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
P. Dey and J. N. Roy, Spintronics,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0069-2_10
223
Spintronics Applications
10.1 Overview
Spintronic devices exploit the spin, as well as the charge, of electrons and could
bring new capabilities to the microelectronics industry (Hirohataa and Yamadab
2020; Potter 1974; Berger 1988; Dieny 1991; Lederman 1999; Berg 1996; Sakakima
2000; Veloso 2000; Parkin 1999; Granley et al. 1996; Ziese and Thornton 2001). The
induction of mass production of magnetic memory in 2018 makes the spintronics
technology accepted for the mainstream technology in microelectronics industry.
Industrialization of devices based on giant magnetoresistance, tunnel magnetoresistance and spin transfer torque bears perspectives of applications in the fields as
diverse as ultra-low power electronics, Internet of Things (IoT), RF communication,
energy harvesting, artificial intelligence, cryo-electronics, quantum engineering and
many more. This chapter illustrates modern advances in spintronic devices that have
the potential to impact the key areas of information technology and microelectronics.
Spintronic devices are promising candidates for future low-energy electronics that
take advantage of the non-volatility of nanoscale magnets. In these devices, the spin
polarization is controlled either by magnetic layers used as spin polarizers or analysers or via spin–orbit coupling. For example, magnetic random access memory
(MRAM) is emerging as a universal integrated on-chip memory. Magnetic devices
and systems exploiting a spin quantum number, a hard disk drive (HDD), had global
market revenue of approximately $11bn in 2018. The other booming field in spintronics application is magnetic field sensors, which had market revenue of ~$19bn
in 2018. However, the field of semiconductor devices had a much larger market of
~$469bn in 2018.
The Nobel Prize winning discovery of GMR in 32 years ago initiated the field and
remarkable quantity of scientific and technological know-how has been built up in the
mean time. GMR-based spin valves and magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) quickly
found large-scale commercial applications in diversified field of science and technology. The innovation of spin transfer torques (STT), tunnelling magnetoresistance
(TMR) and magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) have made it possible to build scalable
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
P. Dey and J. N. Roy, Spintronics,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0069-2_10
223