Antiferromagnetic skyrmion repulsion based artificial neuron device

Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions are potential candidates for neuromorphic computing due to their inherent topologically stable particle-like behavior, low driving current density, and nanoscale size. Antiferromagnetic skyrmions are favored as they can be driven parallel to in-plane electrical currents as opposed to ferromagnetic skyrmions which exhibit the skyrmion Hall effect and eventually cause their annihilation at the edge of nanotracks. In this paper, an antiferromagnetic skyrmion based artificial neuron device consisting of a magnetic anisotropy barrier on a nanotrack is proposed. It exploits inter-skyrmion repulsion, mimicking the integrate-fire (IF) functionality of a biological neuron. The device threshold represented by the maximum number of skyrmions that can be pinned by the barrier can be tuned based on the particular current density employed on the nanotrack. The corresponding neuron spiking event occurs when a skyrmion overcomes the barrier. By raising the device threshold, lowering the barrier width and height, the operating current density of the device can be decreased to further enhance its energy efficiency. The proposed device paves the way for developing energy-efficient neuromorphic computing in antiferromagnetic spintronics.