November 2008

A research team led by Dr Alan Drew (University of Fribourg, Switzerland and Queen Mary, London) and Dr Elvezio Morenzoni (Paul Scherrer Institute – PSI, Switzerland) is the first one to have tracked the magnetic processes going on within a hard-drive read head – similar to the heads that read the data off computer hard discs.
In their experiment, the researchers implanted muons into their device. Muons are elementary particles that act like small magnets, and can thus show up the magnetic fields in their surroundings. The muons for this experiment were generated in the particle accelerator at PSI and subsequently subjected to heavy deceleration – PSI is the only location world-wide where this process is available. In the long term, this type of experiment will help us to understand the processes going on inside the read head in greater detail, so that engineers can see where they need to concentrate their efforts to optimise the heads.

Aviza Technology, a supplier of advanced semiconductor capital equipment and process technologies for the global semiconductor industry and related markets, today announced the introduction of StratIon(TM) fxP, the world's first 300-mm ready Ion Beam Deposition system.

The first system was shipped to CEA-LETI-MINATEC in Grenoble, France, one of Europe's foremost applied research centers in electronics and Spintronics. The StratIon fxP will be used to develop next-generation magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ)-based devices for applications including MRAM, hard disk drive read heads or RF components. The system will also be used for the deposition of metal gates for advanced CMOS processes. In addition to the system shipment, Aviza and CEA-LETI have signed a three year joint development program covering the development of MTJ deposition processes for future MRAM and Spintronics devices.

Spin-induced torque is central to understanding experiments, from the measurement of angular momentum of photons to the measurement of the gyromagnetic factor of metals and a very miniaturized – about 6 microns -- version of a gyroscope that measures the torques produced by electrons changing their spin states. It can be used to uncover new spin-dependent fundamental forces in particle physics, according to Raj Mohanty, Boston University Associate Professor of Physics.

"This is perhaps the most sensitive torque measurement every reported," said Mohanty. "The size of the torque measured by this experiment is smaller than the typical torque produced by the untwisting of a doubly-stranded DNA."

Read more here (Eurekalert)