A Materials Science and Technology team at the Naval Research Laboratory has recently displayed electrical injection, sensing and precession in silicon spin accumulation at temperatures up to 225°C.
NRL's three-terminal device measurement geometry where a current is applied to contacts 1 and 2, and a voltage is measured across contacts 2 and 3
This outcome reveals that silicon spin accumulation is possible for products operating at temperatures of 85°C for commercial, 100°C for industrial and 125°C for military applications. This finding enables developing solutions, which depend on the electron spin more than the electron charge. This method is known as semiconductor spintronics, which offers products of high performance, energy efficiency and low dissipation of heat.
Spin may be defined as the internal angular momentum possessed by an electron. It has been ascertained by the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors that the electron spin may be used as an alternative variable in place of electron charge beyond Moore's law. According to Moore, the number of transistors in an IC per unit area roughly becomes twice the number every two years since the size of the devices are considerably reduced. According to NRL senior scientist Dr. Berry Jonker, simply reducing size does not help. Electrical generation, monitoring and sensing of spin polarization in silicon at temperatures suitable for industrial and military applications will help confirm spin as an option to charge and enable development of a device beyond Moore's law