In this project, the present challenge to increase the areal density of computer memory storage was addressed by multiferroic tunnel junction (MFTJ) based multi-state memory device. The fellow was able to create a heterostructure with possible multi-state switching originating from magnetic switching, ferroelectric switching, and exchange bias switching at the same memory cell. The fellow also investigated the possibility of room temperature ferromagnetic multiferroic material by vertically aligned nanocomposite film for next-generation multistate memory and electric control of magnetism.
Electricity use by ICT could exceed ~21% (expected) to 50% (worst-case) of the global total electricity in 2030 compared to 2018. Only the data centres will use one-third of that which is more than the national energy consumption of many countries. That puts ICT’s carbon footprint to go up to almost 10 times by 2030. With the spectre of energy-hungry data-driven alarming future looming, new technology is very much essential to keep the industry’s environmental impact low while fulfilling the consumer demand for high-speed and high-density data. The results achieved in this project are very important for the society as the society is facing the mammoth challenges to create energy-efficient high-density memory.
The overall objectives of this project were to understand the strongly correlated oxide materials and their nanostructures for spintronics based multi-state non-volatile memory. Spintronics is promising for device applications but complicated by materials science aspects such as growth, characterisation and materials physics which is required to be properly investigated in order to perform with low power and higher efficiency. The project addressed these as proposed.
