Pushing the limits of fast swept-tuned spectrum analysis using Spin-Torque Nano-Oscillators (November 16th, 2020)
Recent progress in nanotechnology has led to the development of spin-torque nano-oscillators (STNO), whose time constants, due to their nano-scale size, are naturally of the order of 1-100 nanoseconds. At SPINTEC we demonstrated experimentally for the first time that the use of such STNOs in swept-tuned microwave spectrum analyzers leads to a substantial reduction of […]
Read moreUnveiling the heart of magnetic memory cells thanks to electron holography (November 10th, 2020)
Magnetic spintronic memory called STT-MRAM have recently entered in volume production at major microelectronic foundries. The research in this area is now focused on preparing the future memory generations with higher capacity, higher speed, lower power consumption, wider range of operating temperature. To conduct this type of research, it is important to be able to […]
Read moreOptical access of magnetic tunnel junctions for future hybrid spintronic–photonic memory circuits (August 24th, 2020)
We demonstrate in this study a fabrication process that enables the realization of a top transparent conductive electrode of magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs), building blocks of magnetic random access memories (MRAMs). This work opens up the realization of future and faster nonvolatile memories based on hybrid spintronic photonic circuits. This new process has been electrically […]
Read moreMagnetic skyrmions are topologically protected spin textures of great interest for nanoscale information storage and processing. However, stabilizing small skyrmions without applying an external magnetic field remains challenging. This study employs a thin ferromagnetic layer exchange-biased by an antiferromagnetic film to stabilize ferromagnetic skyrmions down to 30 nm in diameter, at zero magnetic field. In […]
Read moreMetamagnetism of Weakly Coupled Antiferromagnetic Topological Insulators (July 06th, 2020)
Layered magnetic topological insulators are candidate to unveil novel electronic phases controlled by the magnetization. In MnBi4Te7, we evidenced a transition from an antiferromagnetic to a ferromagnetic-like metamagnetic state, possibly realizing the quantum anomalous Hall regime in ultra-thin films above 1K. 3D topological insulators ideally have an insulating bulk and 2D gapless topological surface states […]
Read moreSpin-orbitronics at a topological insulator-semiconductor interface (July 02nd, 2020)
Topological insulators (TI) represent a new class of insulating materials hosting metallic surface states. Moreover, those surface states exhibit a Dirac cone energy dispersion where the strong spin-orbit coupling leads to a helical spin texture at the Fermi level. This property can be exploited to detect spin currents in conventional semiconductors like silicon or germanium. […]
Read moreKevin GARELLO joins SPINTEC (June 05th, 2020)
We are pleased to announce the arrival on June 2, 2020 of Kevin Garello at SPINTEC. Kevin comes from IMEC Belgium, where he was in charge of exploratory magnetic memory activities, being in addition the leader of spintronic work package for Graphene Flagship. Within the MRAM team, Kevin will bring his vision and know-how of […]
Read moreLorena ANGHEL joins SPINTEC (June 05th, 2020)
We are pleased to announce the arrival on June 1st, 2020 at SPINTEC, within the Spintronics IC design team of Lorena ANGHEL, professor at Grenoble INP / PHELMA, currently deputy director in charge of Research at Grenoble INP, in the fields of microelectronics, electronics and embedded systems. After a 23-year career in the TIMA laboratory, […]
Read moreCoherent long-range coupling between spins by chiral phonons (May 04th, 2020)
We present experimental evidence for coherent long-distance transport of angular momentum inside a non-magnetic dielectric via the coupling to circularly polarized sound waves that exceeds previous benchmarks set by magnon diffusion by orders of magnitude. The vision of spintronics is to use the spin of an electron rather than its charge to allow computers and […]
Read moreAll-optical switching of magnetization in Tb/Co-multilayer based electrodes (April 30th, 2020)
This work reports the development of perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions incorporating a stack of Tb/Co nanolayers whose magnetization can be all-optically controlled via helicity-independent single-shot switching. Toggling of the magnetization of the Tb/Co electrode was achieved using either 60 femtosecond-long or 5 picosecond-long laser pulses, with incident fluences down to 3.5 mJ/cm2. Ever since the […]
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