The European project 3D-Sky has investigated how to harness heat, including the waste heat generated by electronic devices, a major challenge as the digitalisation of society and the growing demand for data processing and storage continue to increase energy consumption.
The work of Alberto Anadón, who carried out the project as a researcher employed by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) at the Aragon Nanoscience and Materials Institute (INMA, CSIC-University of Zaragoza) and has recently joined the University of Zaragoza under a Ramón y Cajal contract, was conducted within the framework of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie programme.
Zaragoza, 8 September. Computers, mobile phones and data centres consume increasing amounts of energy, and part of that energy is ultimately lost as heat. But what if, instead of wasting that heat, we could use it to help store and transfer information? This is one of the ideas explored by 3D-Sky (Thermo-spin 3D Platform for Skyrmion Motion), a Marie Skłodowska-Curie project funded by the European Union and carried out at the Aragon Nanoscience and Materials Institute (INMA), a joint research centre of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Zaragoza, between July 2024 and June 2026.
The project was carried out by Alberto Anadón, a CSIC researcher at INMA, under the supervision of researcher Cristina Bran (CSIC) and in close collaboration with the group led by Amalio Fernández-Pacheco at TU Wien (Vienna). Its aim was to explore new strategies for using heat, including the waste heat generated by electronic devices themselves, as a tool capable of controlling and moving magnetic information at the nanoscale.
The challenge addressed by this research is becoming increasingly relevant. The ongoing digitalisation of society and the growing demand for data processing and storage are driving up the energy consumption associated with information technologies. A significant proportion of this energy is dissipated and ultimately lost as heat.
3D-Sky seeks to turn this problem on its head. Rather than treating heat solely as an energy loss that must be removed, the research explores how it can be harnessed to control magnetic structures that could play a role in future information storage and processing technologies.
Tiny magnetic whirlpools for information storage
The key protagonists of the project are magnetic skyrmions, extremely small and stable configurations of a material’s magnetisation that can be visualised as tiny magnetic “whirlpools”.
Their nanometre-scale size, thousands of times smaller than the thickness of a human hair, combined with their stability and the possibility of moving them within certain materials, makes them highly promising candidates for future generations of information storage and processing devices.
The potential use of these structures as carriers of information could contribute to the development of memory technologies with higher storage densities, faster operation and lower energy consumption.
Within this context, 3D-Sky has investigated how temperature changes and thermal gradients can generate forces capable of influencing skyrmion motion. The goal is to understand how heat itself can become a practical tool for manipulating magnetic information at extremely small scales.
Among the project’s most significant achievements is the demonstration that a heat pulse can create individual skyrmions “on demand” in devices containing integrated micro-heaters, developed in collaboration with the Autonomous University of Madrid. A thermal pulse breaks magnetic domains into isolated and stable skyrmions.
Taking nanomagnetism into the third dimension
The project’s second major objective was to move beyond the conventional flat geometry of devices and explore magnetism in three dimensions.
During 3D-Sky, three-dimensional nanostructures with geometries such as ramps, horseshoes and helices were fabricated using Focused Electron Beam Induced Deposition (FEBID), a technique that can be regarded as a form of nanoscale “3D printing”. The process uses the electron beam of an electron microscope to fabricate structures with extremely complex shapes and nanometre-scale dimensions.
Working in three dimensions opens up new possibilities because the geometry of the nanostructures themselves allows both heat distribution and magnetic behaviour to be modified and controlled in ways that are not possible in conventional planar circuits.
This combination of 3D nanomagnetism and thermospintronics therefore opens new research avenues for studying how temperature, geometry and magnetism interact, and how these interactions could be exploited in future information technologies.
A collaborative network to advance new magnetic technologies
The 3D-Sky project was carried out in close collaboration with the group of Amalio Fernández-Pacheco at TU Wien (Vienna) and has enabled the establishment and strengthening of scientific collaborations with a range of national and international institutions, including the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), the Madrid Institute of Materials Science (ICMM-CSIC), CUNEF University, the ALBA Synchrotron and the Institut Jean Lamour (CNRS-University of Lorraine, France).
This network brings together complementary expertise in the fabrication of three-dimensional nanostructures, advanced magnetic characterisation, and the study of materials and physical phenomena at the nanoscale.
The completion of 3D-Sky does not mark the end of this line of research. Since 1 July, Alberto Anadón has held a Ramón y Cajal contract at the University of Zaragoza, where he will continue developing his research at INMA.
This new stage will allow further advances in the study of three-dimensional nanomagnetism and thermospintronics, building on the knowledge, capabilities and collaborations generated during the European project.
The next step will be to transfer thermal experiments to fully three-dimensional structures, such as the horseshoe-shaped nanostructures that have already been fabricated, and to gain a more precise understanding of the physical mechanisms that allow temperature to drive skyrmion motion.
Alberto Anadón’s incorporation through the Ramón y Cajal programme will help consolidate a research line at the interface of materials physics, nanomagnetism and future information technologies. It will ensure continuity for a scientific trajectory fostered by an excellence programme such as the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, while strengthening the institute’s ability to attract and retain outstanding research talent.
The 3D-Sky project has received funding from the European Union through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions under the Horizon Europe programme (Grant Agreement No. 101108063).
Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence
The Aragon Nanoscience and Materials Institute (INMA) was the first institution in the Autonomous Community of Aragon to obtain the Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence accreditation, awarded by the Spanish State Research Agency. The recognition includes €4.5 million in funding and five doctoral contracts for the 2024-2028 period.
INMA is a joint research institute of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Zaragoza. With around 300 members, it currently manages more than 40 European projects and produces an average of 300 scientific publications per year, while securing approximately €7 million annually through competitive public funding programmes. The institute also works closely with industry.
08-09-2026
