E.H. Yang is Putting a New Spin on Magnetism to Power Electronics

The days of charging your phone at least once a day, grumbling that your laptop is still too slow and wishing AI could effectively deal with your data might soon be a thing of the past, thanks to researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology. 

E.H. Yang, professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, along with his student Siwei Chen, Mechanical Engineering M.S. ’17 Ph.D. ’25, and researchers from Stevens and North Carolina State University, is investigating ways to control magnetism in ultra-thin materials using only an electron spin, a revolutionary approach to operating the electronic tools that are so integral to daily life. 

Their research paper, “Magnetic Switching in Monolayer 2D Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors via Spin-to-Spin Conversion,” was published in February 2025 in Advanced Functional Materials. 

An attractive way to revolutionize memory devices

"Traditional electronic devices—such as cell phones and laptop computers—rely on electric charge to control data storage, which limits their memory and power efficiencies," Yang explained. "This led us to explore our new class of materials that allows us to leverage the spins of electrons in a completely new way."

Professor E.H. Yang

This game-changing discovery leverages spintronics, which merges spin physics—the study of how electrons can act as magnets—and electronics. Spintronic memory devices can be controlled by tiny magnetic switches that go on and off to store and manipulate data. Yang’s team has uncovered a first-of-its-kind method to efficiently switch the magnetic state—in effect, to change the direction of magnetization. 

"We’ve essentially found a way to flip those switches using only an electron’s spin," said Chen. "Think of it like flipping a light switch—but instead of using your hand, we use an interaction between electron spin and magnetism in an ultra-thin material."

Their work is based on a unique combination of molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂), a one-atom-thick semiconductor that can support next-generation electronics, and iron (Fe), which allows the material to maintain a magnetic state even when the power is off. The resulting substance, iron-doped molybdenum disulfide (Fe:MoS₂), is a type of semiconductor that can conduct electricity in a controlled way and also act as a magnet.

Successfully integrating Fe:MoS₂, into the spintronic device configuration offers several groundbreaking advantages for tomorrow’s memory storage devices:

• Cool magnetism that doesn’t require cool temperatures: By adding iron atoms into this new material, Yang’s team was able to switch the material’s magnetization above room temperature rather than the extremely low temperatures many other materials require. This makes it practical for real-world applications. 

• Amped up power control: Because only electron spins are used to flip the tiny magnetic switches, it opens the door to significant advancements in low-power memory applications.

• Ultra-thin profile with wide potential: At just one atom thick, Fe:MoS₂ remains stable above room temperature, so it can be stacked and integrated into increasingly smaller electronics. The switching effect has never been demonstrated before in a material that’s less than a nanometer thick—about 100,000 times thinner than a human hair. 

• Extreme energy efficiency: The new switching method reduces power consumption by nearly 100 times compared to other recent studies. 

This exciting laboratory achievement helps pave the way to revolutionize memory technology by enabling smaller, faster and more energy-efficient memory chips, energy-saving AI hardware and longer-lasting, more reliable devices. 

Next, the team intends to study other materials, increase efficiency, and ultimately integrate the technology into real-world memory devices for a new era of faster, smaller and more sustainable computing.