Nanofabrication and spectroscopy of magnetic nanostractures using a focused ion beam

This research used a focused ion beam in order to fabricate record small nano-magnetic structures, investigate the properties of magnetic materials in the rarely studied range of nanometer size, and exploit their extraordinary characteristics in medicine and nano-electronics. This study consists of two parts: (i) Fabrication and study of record small magnetic tunnel junctions (ii) Introduction of a novel method for detection of magnetoelectric nanoparticles (MENs) in the tissue. A key challenge in further scaling of CMOS devices is being able to perform non-volatile logic with near zero power consumption. Sub-10-nm nanomagnetic spin transfer torque (STT) magnetic tunneling junctions (MTJs) have the potential for a universal memory that can address this key challenge. The main problem is to decrease the switching current density. This research studied these structures in sub-10-nm size range. In this range, spin related excitations consume considerably smaller amounts of energy as compared to the larger scale. This research concluded that as predicted a decrease in switching current superior to that of the linear scaling will happen in this size range. Magneto-electric nanoparticles (MENs) can be used to directly couple intrinsic electric-field-driven processes with external magnetic fields for controlling neural activity deep in the brain. These particles have been proven to be capable of inducing deep brain stimulation non-invasively. Furthermore, these magneto-electric nano-particles can be used for targeted drug delivery and are contenders to replace conventional chemotherapy. The circulatory system can deliver a drug to almost every cell in the body; however, delivering the drug specifically into the tumor cell and then releasing it on demand remains a formidable task. Nanomedicine can accomplish this, but ensuring that the drug is released at an appropriate rate once at the target site is an important task. In order to have a complete understanding of the behavior of these MENs when injected into the body, a comprehensive bio-distribution study was performed. This study introduced a novel spectroscopy method for tracing the nanoparticles in the bloodstream. This study investigated the post injection distribution of the MENs in vital organs throughout a period of two months