Spintronics: Overview on Spin Based Electronics and Its Potential Applications

Spintronics is a branch of electronics that utilizes the spin of an electron to carry information. Spin is a quantum phenomenon and attracted researchers because it is an ideal way for representing logic “0" and “1" (used in electronics) with spin pointing “up" or “down" with respect to a magnetic field. Therefore, spin imparts itself into a new kind of binary logic of "one" and "zero". These characteristics open a new possibility of spintronics application in various fields such as magnetic storage technology and quantum computers. Spintronics is an emerging field for next-generation nanoelectronic devices to minimize their power consumption (which is the major issue in future microelectronics technology) and increase memory capabilities. This article briefly introduces the fundamentals of spintronics, progress in spintronics and its applications; it also features the current trend and challenging goal in this area.