Skyrmion-Based Programmable Logic Device with Complete Boolean Logic Functions

Abstract

The $m\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}m\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}o\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}r\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}y$ $w\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}a\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}l\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}l$, a bottleneck between storage and processor in the traditional von Neumann computing paradigm, has become increasingly serious with the rise of ``Big Data'', and there is strong interest in developing logic-in-memory computing architectures. The authors propose a skyrmion-based programmable logic device with complete Boolean logic functions, a feature that has remained elusive so far. This device can realize robust and programmable logic functions under solely electrical control, in the presence of both the inhomogeneities and thermal fluctuations that are are experimentally unavoidable. This result, then, suggests a path to overcoming the memory wall.