SPINOSA

What is SPINOSA?

SPINOSA ''Spin Polarized Injection In Nanostructures and Devices'' is EU project which aims to develop the contacts for spin injection into semiconductors, aiming to novel spintronics semiconductor applications at room temperature.

SPINOSA is funded by the European Commission in FP5 under grant #IST-2001-33334.

What is Spintronics?

Spintronics or ''Spin electronics'' is a new field of research based on electron spin, rather than on charge, in which the electron spin carriers information and not the electron charge. Information is stored (written) into spins as a particular spin orientation (up or down). The key of Spintronics in the ability to inject, manipulate and detects spins in solid state systems. Several schemes have been proposed in the past, including magnetic metal/semiconductor junctions, all metallic devices and all semiconducting systems. Spin orientation of conduction electrons survives for a relatively long time (nanoseconds, compared to tens of femtoseconds during which electron momentum and energy decay), which makes spintronics devices particularly attractive for memory storage and magnetic sensors applications. This offers opportunities for a new generation of devices combining standard microelectronics with spin-dependent effects that arise from the interaction between spin of the carrier and the magnetic properties of the material.