Two Chalmers assistant professors Saroj Dash and Tommy Ive receive a high risk-high impact grant of 500 KSEK from Chalmers Area of Advance Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.  Their ultimate goal is to combine two emerging areas of research, the spin-electronics and the semiconductor quantum structures.

Assistant Professors Tommy Ive and Saroj Dash, from the Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, receive a 500 000 SEK high risk-high impact grant from Chalmers Area of Advance Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. They aim to integrate spin polarized injector and detector contacts (ferromagnets) in semiconductor quantum structures. The ultimate, goal is to realize and understand the basics of spin injection, transport, manipulation and detection mechanism in ferromagnet- semiconductor hybrid devices.

The conventional way of improving the functionality of transistors is to downscale the transistor dimensions. In near future the existing device architectures as well as the material properties will reach their fundamental limitations for downscaling. However, in the future Tommy Ive and Saroj Dash believe that “spintronics” offers an alternative path by using the electron spin instead of its charge to perform both information storage and processing in a single device. In principle, information transfer and processing by spin manipulation require less energy and produce less heat than traditional devices, offering a possible reduction in power consumption.  More information at http://www.chalmers.se/ap/SV/aktuellt6033/nyhetsarkiv/8220-spin-based

The outcome of this research will allow better understanding of the spin transport and manipulation mechanisms in high mobility two dimensional electron systems. For instance, new technology based on spintronics would allow a new generation of high-performance computing. In addition to the near-term studies of various spin transistors and spin transport properties of semiconductors, a long-term and ambitious goal of spintronics is the application of electron spins to quantum information processing and quantum computation.

 The grant will be used to cover a Post-doc, including additional costs for a six month period.

High risk-High impact

The high risk-high impact grant from Chalmers Area of Advance Nanoscience and Nanotechnology aims to launch new research activities which, if successful, have a large potential but that are associated with a great deal of uncertainty.

Text: Christophe Eléhn