Nanotechnica, startup and subsiudiary of Arrowhead Research, announced it has been granted a patent onm spintronic technology for use in next generation semiconductor devices.

Spintronics, short for spin-based electronics, is a developing field of technology, in which researchers do not just use the charge but also the spin of electrons to transmit information and achieve improvements in faster processing speeds with less power
consumption and non-volatile characteristics for example in memory, disk storage and magnetic sensors. The spin itself can show a "spin up" or "spin down" magnetic energy state. Some researchers believe the technology could emerge as milestone on the way to quantum computers.

According to the description of patent 6,879,012 , Nanotechnica’s patent covers ferromagnetic semiconductor-based methods, devices, and ferromagnetic-based compositions. (THG)