Researchers Offer Explanation for Strange Magnetic Behavior at Semiconductor Interfaces

Discovery Could One Day Lead to Electronic Materials that Provide Both Computation and Data Storage

COLUMBUS, Ohio—They’re not exactly the peanut butter and jelly of semiconductors, but when you put them together, something magical happens.

Alone, neither lanthanum aluminate nor strontium titanate exhibit any particularly notable properties. But when they are layered together, they become not only conductive, but also magnetic.

In the current online edition of Nature Physics, researchers at The Ohio State University report the first-ever theoretical explanation to be offered for this phenomenon since it was discovered in 2004.

Understanding how these two semiconductors interact at their interface could someday lead to a different kind of material—one that provides a single platform for computation and data storage, said Mohit Randeria, co-author of the paper and professor of physics at Ohio State.

“The whole question is, how can you take two materials which do not conduct electricity and do not have magnetic properties, make a sandwich out of them and—lo and behold—at the interface tween them, charge begins to flow and interesting magnetic effects happen?” he said.

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The work of one of CEM’s teams of researchers has caught the attention of the writers at IEEE Spectrum. The team led by Profs. Josh Goldberger, Roland Kawakami, and Jay Gupta is working on creating 2-D structures of germanium and studying the new material’s capabilities for transporting electrons. In July 2013, IEEE Spectrum published an article reviewing the latest research on 2D materials titled, “The Flat Menagerie”, in which the 2-D research team’s work is mentioned. An abstract can be viewed here.

The annual OSU Business Plan Competition is under way! This event, hosted by the Center for Entrepreneurship at Fisher College of Business, will kick-off with a Launch Day on Wednesday, October 2 from 6:00 – 8:00 PM.

Materials-related projects have participated and placed well in past competitions, with past winners even starting in successful spin-off companies! For more information about the OSU Business Plan Competition, including details about past winners, visit: http://fisher.osu.edu/centers/entrepreneurship/osu-business-plan-competition/

OSU’s Technology and Commercialization Office is hosting a competition for student-led startup ideas!

Register by Thursday (8/29) for the Technology Commercialization Office BOSS program. The BOSS program is for students who want to be just that, their own bosses. It is a six week pitch competition where teams pitch repeatedly to a panel of judges, are given assignments and tweaks to make on their ideas, and return to pitch again. These pitch sessions take place every other week during the life of the program and culminate in a high-profile final pitch event in front of the TCO team, faculty, and the community. The panel of judges is comprised of industry leaders and they decide which promising new student startups receive prizes and all-access to TCO services. Ohio State students are making it happen and building companies LIKE A BOSS!

Submit your student startup idea for our upcoming Fall 2013 BOSS competition!