A Task-Schedulable Nonvolatile Spintronic Field-Programmable Gate Array

Abstract

Despite the vast hardware resources available in field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), the implementation of very large and complex designs on these platforms is a challenging problem. One effective solution is to use task scheduling. In this method, the FPGA configuration is changed according to the required task. This requires access to external nonvolatile memory, which significantly reduces system performance. In this letter, the development of a nonvolatile spintronic FPGA structure with task-scheduling capability is described. By using the nonvolatile feature of the magnetic tunnel junction device, the structure can store two different configurations in a nonvolatile way, which eliminates the need for external memory access and significantly enhances system performance.