Researchers at Ohio State University have demonstrated what they are claiming to be the first plastic computer memory device that utilizes the spin of electrons to read and write data. The so-called spintronics could be an alternative to traditional microelectronics that could store more data in less space, process data faster, and consume less power, the researchers said. Currently the device is little more than a thin strip of dark blue organic-based magnet layered with a metallic ferromagnet and connected to two electrical leads. But the researchers are touting that they successfully recorded data on it and retrieved the data by controlling the spins of the electrons with a magnetic field. Arthur J Epstein, distinguished university professor of physics and chemistry and director of the Institute for Magnetic and Electronic Polymers at Ohio State, described the material as a hybrid of a semiconductor that is made from organic materials and a special magnetic polymer semiconductor. The team believes it is a bridge between today's computers and the all-polymer, spintronic computers that they hope to enable in the future. The research is based on the fact that electrons can be polarized to orient in particular directions, like a bar magnet, through orientation referred to as spin. Storing data using spin would effectively let computers store and transfer twice as much data per electron. Spintronics is often just seen as a way to get more information out of an electron, but really it's about moving to the next generation of electronics, Epstein said in a statement from the university. We could solve many of the problems facing computers today by using spintronics. Epstein said that flipping the spin of an electron requires less energy and produces very little heat, so a spintronic device could run on smaller batteries and, if made out of plastic, would also be light and flexible. We would love to take portable electronics to a spin platform, Epstein said. Think about soldiers in the field who have to carry heavy battery packs, or even civilian 'road warriors' commuting to meetings. If we had a lighter weight spintronic device which operates itself at a lower energy cost, and if we could make it on a flexible polymer display, soldiers and other users could just roll it up and carry it. We see this portable technology as a powerful platform for helping people. The magnetic polymer semiconductor in this study, vanadium tetracyanoethanide, is the first organic-based magnet that operates above room temperature, Ohio State said. It was developed by Epstein and his collaborator Joel S Miller of the University of Utah. Ohio State postdoctoral researcher Jung-Woo Yoo also worked on the spintronic research. In the prototype device, electrons pass into the polymer and a magnetic field orients them as spin up or spin down, Ohio State explained. The electrons can then pass into the conventional magnetic layer, but only if the spin of electrons there are oriented in the same way. If they are not, the resistance is too high for the electrons to pass. That allowed the researchers to read spin data from their device based on whether the resistance was high or low, the school said. Collaborators at the University of Wisconsin-Madison prepared a sample of conventional magnetic film, and Yoo and his Ohio State colleagues layered it together with the organic magnet to make a working device. As a test, the researchers exposed the material to a magnetic field that varied in strength over time. To determine whether the material recorded the magnetic pattern and functioned as a good spin injector/detector, they measured the electric current passing through the two magnetic layers. Ohio State explained that the method is similar to the way computers read and write data to a magnetic hard drive today. The results retrieved the magnetic data in its entirety, exactly as stored. The patented technology should transfer easily to industry, according to Yoo. Any place that makes computer chips could do this, he said in the university's statement. Plus, in this case, we made the device at room temperature, and the process is very eco-friendly. The research is described in the August issue of the journal Nature Materials. The research was funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of Naval Research.