Patents

Researchers from the NIST were granted a patent for a device that combines a spin valve with a memristor (a device that is the basis of next-generation RRAM memory devices). The device can be used to turn on and off a spin channel.

The researchers say that their patented device may be a fundamental building-block in future spintronic devices as it combines the non-volatile memory in memristors with the technology of a spin valve. The intention is simple and can be used in several ways - as an on/off switch for spin currents, as an interconnect between different spintronic components and as an interface between magnetic and electronic features.

Researchers from the Swedish KTH Royal Institute Technology have managed to create a magnetic Soliton (spin torque-generated nano-droplet). This magnetic nano-droplet was theorized over 30 years ago, but was finally created now. The researchers say that such devices can have many applications, for example to replace microwave technology used in mobile phones with a much smaller, efficient and cheap component.

Solitons (solitary waves that behave like particles and retain their shape when moving at a constant speed) have been used before for long distance, high speed information transmission. This is the first time a Soliton was created in a magnetic environment. The droplet the researchers developed is about 50-100 m in size. At their center, magnetization points towards the opposite direction, both against the surrounding spin (a quantum physical property) and the applied magnetic field.

NVE Corporation said that it has been notified by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that two patents are expected to be granted today. The patents are titled "Two-Axis Magnetic Field Sensor" and "Superparamagnetic Devices."

The Two-Axis Magnetic Field Sensor is patent number 7,054,114, and is the grant of a patent under the application published by the USPTO as number 2004-0137275. The invention is for a spintronic device that can detect the magnitude and orientation of magnetic fields. Applications for such devices might include Magnetoresitive Random Access Memory (MRAM), or military, industrial, and medical sensors.