Specially colored nanomagnet eggs could make low-power computer memories

The idea:

It may be a bit late for Easter but eggs have a valid reason to make news again. The scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed eggs that can be used as low-power computer memories in future. Actually these eggs are nanomagnets that have been given the shape of an egg. These are nickel-iron magnets created using electron-beam lithography. These egg-shaped nanomagnets have been developed as a part of NIST research to help developing magnetic data storage systems for future.

nanomagnets

Fact box:

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The making:

The researchers at NIST used electron-beam lithography ( the practice of scanning a beam of electrons in a patterned fashion also used for creating nanotechnology architectures) for a study and made thousands of 'egg-liptical' magnets. Well, these eggs aren't really that easy to see and are definitely not there to play with, for these are 200 nanometers (billionths of a meter) in diameter.

What's new?

General shape of each magnet can be described as an ellipse. The colour of the eggs too isn't a matter of choice or chance, they represent intrinsic qualities hidden in these small eggs. Lighter colors indicate 'stronger frequency signals'. These eggs have been coloured using object-oriented micromagnetic framework (OOMMF). The details reveal that the egg shape makes the pattern of waves more complex.

What's refreshing?

Why the egg shape? It isn't a random selection of just any shape. Researchers found out that even the slightest of a change or distortion in shape of a magnet causes a drift in their magnetic properties. They found it by analyzing the magnets with a laser for the spin of electrons. The spin of electrons is what's responsible for the magnetic orientation. Changes in spins leads to waves of different frequencies. In egg like magnets the wave patterns and their frequencies become more complex. You'd have observed a similar pattern after throwing a pebble into water. These changes are observed more at the ends of the magnets than its middle portion.

Applications:

The question is how far can this 'intentional' patterning of shape go. If the research results are to be believed, they might help in breaking the symmetry in frequency patterns commonly noticed in ellipse structures. This gives an opportunity to control the switching process which can be customized and be made more reliable. This study also explains the unpredictable behaviour of many nanomagnets. Whose shape might have been distorted somehow by lithography process. These little imperfections might affect the switching process. These results can also be useful in developing future RAMs that are actually based on interactions between electron spins and magnetized surfaces.

Quotes:

NIST physicist Tom Silva says,

Intentional patterning of egg-like distortions into spin RAM memory elements may facilitate more reliable switching.