Researchers have taken the first step towards a new technology that could possibly make computers produce less heat and use less electricity. This technology controls electron spin in silicon, which is the first advance in making silicon spin-based computer processors. This was reported by J.R. Minkel on sciam.com, in an article titled Spintronics Breaks the Silicon Barrier.
The researchers used aluminum electrons pushed through a ferromagnet to obtain electrons of the desired spin, which were then pushed into the silicon. Spin is a quantum property used to classify electrons; it is either up or down (also called clockwise or counterclockwise). Aluminum has equal parts spin-up and spin-down electrons. The ferromagnet will allow only electrons of one spin through; it impedes the flow of those electrons of the opposite spin.
The ferromagnet increased the percentage of one spin type in the silicon by one. However, this was done at 85 Kelvin. In theory this spintronics device should function at room temperature, this has not been tested though. To operate, a functional spintronics device would require a uni-spin substance.
These processors would be capable of using a small portion of the electricity used by contemporary, charge-based silicon processors; moreover, a spin-based processor would produce far less waste heat. This means that your laptop’s battery would last longer, because (1) the processor does not need as much energy and (2) the computer would need less cooling, which takes a large percent of battery life. Moreover, the computer could be smaller because a smaller fan could be used.
1 comment:
Well, a longer lasting lap-top battery would certainly be an improvement, I'm not sure I need a smaller lap-top. I do still want keys and such! However, the environmental impact would be worth while!
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