A silicon-based nanoscale spintronics systems is being developed by researchers at the University of Southampton, jointly with the University of Cambridge, the NTT Basic Research Laboratories and the Hitachi Cambridge Laboratory.
The three-year project, which has £1m funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), aims to build the world's first silicon-based integrated single-spin quantum bit system.
It will enable researchers to initialise, manipulate and read single-electron's 'spin' states rather than just charge states.
The advantage of employing spin rather than charge, according to Southampton's Professor Hiroshi Mizuta, is that spin can maintain coherence and is hardly destroyed by interference in silicon or graphene.
"It is not just an extension of existing silicon technology; we have introduced a completely new principle based on quantum mechanics, which will make it possible for industry to continue to use silicon as devices get smaller," he claimed.