Can Moore’s law keep going? Power dissipation=greatest obstacle for Moore’s law! Modern processor chips consume ~100W of power of which about 20% is wasted in leakage through the transistor gates. The traditional means of coping with increased power per generation has been to scale down the operating voltage of the chip but voltages are reaching limits due to thermal fluctuation effects.

Dissipationless spin current induced by the electric field Science 301, 1348 (2003) Spintronics can solve the problem of dissipation! Ohm’s law describes the inevitable dissipation as electric current is transported by the voltage. We discovered the new “Ohm’s law for spintronics”. Spin current can be induced by the electric field thru the spin-orbit coupling, and it can flow without dissipation! Click on the picture and watch the movie!

Broader impact: Keeping the Moore’s law going is the most important technological goal of our nation. Asking a curious scientific question has lead to a new technological discovery! Technology companies are seriously looking into the potential application of our discovery in low power spin based electronics. "Compare Zhang's discovery to the invention of the first transistor created to make a better radio. We are at that same state today.“-- comment by Julien Nugyen, managing director of Applied Materials, the world’s largest semiconductor equipment manufacturer. IBM has committed to invest in a Stanford-IBM center for spintronics, accelerating the commercialization of this new technology. The PI is planning numerous lectures to educate the broad public on the fundamental science needed for keeping the Moore’s law on its course.