The Quest for the Spin Transistor The mystical property of
electron spin is revolutionizing the memory business. If it can
do the same with logic, electronics will become "spintronics"
ILLUSTRATION: ROB MAGIERI From the earliest batteries through
vacuum tubes, solid state, and integrated circuits, electronics
has staved off stagnation. Engineers and scientists have remade
it repeatedly, vaulting it over one hurdle after another to keep
alive a record of innovation unmatched in industrial history. It
is a spectacular and diverse account through which runs a common
theme. When a galvanic pile twitches a frog's leg, when a triode
amplifies a signal, or when a microprocessor stores a bit in a
random access memory, the same agent is at work: the movement of
electric charge. Engineers are far from exhausting the
possibilities of this magnificent mechanism. But even if a dead
end is not yet visible, the foreseeable hurdles are high enough
to set some searching for the physics that will carry
electronics on to its ne