The word spintronics is a combination of spin and electronics. Electronics involves manipulation of electrons in such a manner that the electrical charge is used to carry out instructions. The charge can carry information in the digital language of 1 and 0 which helps device work properly.
Since electrons are very small, it was presumed that speed of devices can be increased exponentially without any complications. However, with nano technology becoming popular, people have realized that they are getting a fundamental limit and that they no longer can rely on the large number of electrons to increase speed.
This is where spintronics enters the picture. Electrons spin. They spin just like a baseball spins after it has been hit. The important characteristic here is that an electron can spin in either clockwise or counterclockwise.
Latest breakthroughs in technology have helped experts identify the velocity at which the electron spins. This information can be used to transmit data from one component to another through the spin of the electrons rather than the electrons themselves.
Needless to say, this opens up numerous vistas and avenues of making devices faster. Simply put, people just discovered that they do not have to roll the ball on the floor from one point to another. Rather, they can throw the ball in the air and can do so safely as long as the ball remains parallel to the floor.
The biggest advantage of spintronics is that more data can be processed at same energy levels without increasing the size of the equipment. This is because just another characteristic of electrons are being used to transmit data.
In a perfect world, this will help bigger devices get smaller and smaller devices become more powerful. However, there are many more tasks to be completed before spintronics can become a viable solution to the problem faced by manufacturer of electronic devices today.