Domain walls that conduct electricity

Exploring the ultimate nanoscale for future electronics

		IMAGE: Scanning probe tips can be used to control the number and arrangement of conducting domain walls in bismuth ferrite (gold) between electrodes (green), thus creating useful devices on the nanoscale.... Click here for more information.

BERKELEY, CA – The logic and memory functions of future electronic devices could shrink dramatically – to one or two nanometers (billionths of a meter) instead of the many tens of nanometers that characterize today's most advanced elements - if a way can be found to control domain walls, the ultrathin transition zones that separate regions of a material having different magnetic, electric, or other properties.