PhD in three-dimensional spintronic circuits

A PhD position in three-dimensional spintronic circuits is offered. A joint project between  the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC, Spain) and the University of Vienna  (Austria).

Spintronics is an emerging area of nanoelectronics that exploits the spin of electrons to store and process information. The development of spin-based hardware components and devices is one of the most promising approaches to realize disruptive green computing technologies, going beyond Moore approaches.

Our groups are carrying out pioneering work on three-dimensional spintronics, where we study new physical phenomena in 3D magnetic devices which go beyond the standard approach in nanoelectronics, currently based on planar geometries. Moving to 3D has a great potential to create ultra-high density low-power devices and to exploit new physical effects which emerge as a consequence of the change in dimensionality. 

In this project, the candidate will carry out computational and experimental work devoted to the design, fabrication and characterization of three-dimensional spintronic circuits. For this, he/she will use state of the art equipment to fabricate and characterize complex 3D nanoelectronic circuits based on magnetic materials, in combination with advanced computational techniques for the design and simulation of the devices.

The PhD project is designed in a holistic way, with the candidate based in Zaragoza and spending long periods of time in Vienna, and working in all phases of the research: On the computational part, designing the circuits using micromagnetic and multiphysics simulations, developing numercial models for the printing processes and implementing state-of-the art algorithms from the field of machine learning to optimize the fabrication process. On the experimental part, 3D printing the devices using nanolithography methods based on focused electron beams and depositing thin film heterostructures, and characterizing them via magneto-optical, magneto-electrical, X-ray and electron microscopy techniques. Contact with high-tech industry and technology transfer activities are also foreseen.

The complementary expertise of the two host groups, the international environment and the wide range of technical skills that will be acquired, constitutes a great opportunity for the candidate to become a highly-qualified individual with a broad skill set. We are therefore looking for a highly motivated candidate eager to accept the challenge and develop the next generation of nanoelectronic green devices based on magnetic materials.

The project is funded via the ERC Consolidator project “3DNANOMAG: Three-dimensional nanoscale magnetic structures ”. The two supervisors are: Dr Amalio Fernández-Pacheco (Zaragoza) and Dr Claas Abert (Vienna).

Key publications & videos

Donnelly et al, Nature Nanotechnology 17, 136–142 (2022)

Meng et al, ACS Nano 15, 6765 (2021).

Fernández-Pacheco et al, Nature Materials 18, 679–684 (2019).

Fernández-Pacheco et al, Nature Communications 8, 15756 (2017).

3D spintronics research talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qjpU0Wk9cM

TedX talk: https://youtu.be/bMWMFcDBUu4