Van der Waals magnet enables room-temperature field-free logic with ultralow power.

Today's computers need new parts that process and store data together without burning too much energy. Scientists want to build these parts using van der Waals magnets, which are layered materials that stack easily and tune well. But no one had made a spin-based logic device from them that works at room temperature without an outside magnetic field. The researchers built an in-memory computing logic device using a tiny bit made of Fe3GaTe2 combined with a platinum channel. The platinum uses the flow of electricity to flip the magnet's state cleanly and quickly. The device works at normal room temperatures and switches without an external magnetic field. It shows strong stability against heat while needing very low power to write data.

Why it matters

This work shows that a van der Waals magnet can switch logic states at room temperature without a magnetic field, using far less energy than current technology. That means future computers could store and process data in the same tiny, power-efficient devices, making everything from phones to data centers much more energy efficient.

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