The winner 2006: Prof. Russell Cowburn 

For a long time now Prof. Russell Cowburn has been working in nanotechnology, specifically on magnetic materials that will enable a variety of different applications. At extremely small scale (1 nanometer = 1 billionth of a meter) magnetic materials exhibit effects that are comparable to those of a transistor. In particular the new technology, which is capable of replacing these electronic semi-conductor components, makes high-performance data storage possible.

Prof. Russell Cowburn

Prof. Cowburn’s process represents a totally new approach to microelectronics.  Whereas electrical currents and transistors alone have been used so far, the new technology is based on spintronics, which instead of using the charge of the electron uses the spin of the electron. Unlike transistors, these magnetic materials have a three-dimensional structure, which means that up to 100 times as much information can be packed into the same space (more cars can fit in a parking garage than on a simple parking lot). The other advantage is that when the energy source is switched off the memory is retained because even without an energy source a magnet remains magnetic. That means that an electrically-based microchip will lose its memory without energy, whereas a magnetically-based microchip will retain it.

The new technology is suitable for use as data storage for data, photographs and emails today. At present flash memory or hard disks are used to provide this functionality in laptop computers, mobile phones, digital cameras, MP3 players and PDAs. High-performance magnetic storage can replace conventional storage in all these devices and others.

Conservative estimates are that the new magnetic data storage will conquer a large slice of the approximately 30 billion-euro world market in hard disks for consumer devices such as laptops, mobile telephones and MP3 players. One reason is that the new technology offers up to 100 times greater performance at the same cost of manufacture. The expected market volume over the medium term is put at more than 100 million euros.

Russell Cowburn’s technology opens up the possibility of improved communication and totally new applications for portable devices, such as storing large video messages on mobile telephones. This is only one of many conceivable opportunities.