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Berkeley participates in “spintronics” research
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Jeffrey Bokor
PEG SKORPINSKI PHOTO
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Berkeley engineering faculty will be among 30 researchers taking part in the four-campus Western Institute of Nanoelectronics (WIN), one of the largest joint research programs to focus on the pioneering technology called “spintronics” and its potential applications in semiconductor engineering.
“The semiconductor industry is facing a huge challenge, which is to come up with a technology successor for CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) standards,” said EECS professor Jeffrey Bokor, who is heading the Berkeley effort. “What’s exciting about the WIN program is that the semiconductor companies are placing a large bet on our university team to come up with the needed innovation.”
Information-processing technology has up to now relied on charge-based devices like vacuum tubes and million-transistor microchips. Spintronics exploits the natural spinning motion of electrons, which could be harnessed to carry additional information without consuming more power. The technology holds promise for improving the efficiency and performance of conventional electronics devices.
Centered at UCLA and directed by electrical engineering professor Kang Wang, the institute will be funded with $18.2 million in starting grants, largely from semiconductor companies Intel, IBM, Texas Instruments, Advanced Micro Devices, Freescale Semiconductor and MICRON Technology. Other participating universities include UC Santa Barbara and Stanford.
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